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Big splash at Camlough Water Festival

The Camlough Lake Water Festival is set to make a huge splash this Summer in what promises to be a fun-filled family weekend. The weekend-long series of events is scheduled for August 24-26th with a host of activities and something for everyone.

Photo: Angling Self-Catering Ireland

Under the directorship of Padraig Mallon and Aoife Linch, plus a hard-working committee, the events will splash-off on Friday, August 24 with the Lord and Lady of the Lake, the traditional length-of-the-lake 1.7-mile swim.

Last year 120 swimmers participated and, with a new start area and increased interest in open-water swimming, upwards of 200 hardy individuals are expected to plunge into the Killeavy-side of the lake (at 6.30pm) to make the long haul to the finish. The race will be chipped and will cost £15 to enter.

Later on in the evening, at 11pm, will be the massively popular Night Swim (with Remember-Our-Friends lanterns). This will be a non-competitive 750-metre event with novice swimmers, accompanied by a swim-buddy. For anyone who hasn’t sampled swimming in the dark, this is a not-to-be-missed opportunity, and participants will be coming to Camlough from all parts of the nation.

On Saturday morning (9.30-10.30am) there will be a relaxing short swim out to a raft anchored about 150-metres from the shore where swimmers can have a free coffee and buns, courtesy of Grounded.

Then at 10.30am there will be a Junior Aquathon, a short swim-run race, with a £5 entry fee. This will be followed at 1pm with an Olympic Aquathon comprising a 1500-metre swim and an 11.5-metre hilly run around the lake. Many triathletes will challenge themselves in this gruelling event that costs £20 to participate.

Meanwhile all over the weekend there will be a water-polo competition that will be open to teams nationwide. Indeed there’s even a team travelling over from England to take part (pre-registration for the water-polo closes on August 17).

At 6pm on the Saturday there’s a Try-a-Tri triathlon for anyone wishing to dip their toes into this exciting, and increasingly popular, sport. The distances are: a 250-metre swim, followed by a six-kilometre bike ride and finishing with a three-kilometre run. Entry fee for Try-a-Tri is £20.

Saturday finishes with a BBQ with Remember Our Friends Lanterns, from 7pm to late.

Like Saturday, Sunday starts with a Grounded coffee morning (free coffee and buns on a raft in the middle of the lake) from 10am to 11am and this is followed 11am with a Junior one-kilometre swim for various age groups and incorporating various distances. Entry fee: £5.

Then at noon the serious stuff starts. First there’s the Irish Long Distance Swimming Association 10-kilometre swim; that includes both wetsuit and non-wetsuit sections. Entry fee here is £20.

For those who feel 10-kilomtres is too long there’s an ILDSA five-kilometre race, also with wetsuit and non-wet-suit sections. This race starts at 1pm and costs £15 to participate. A pass for all events is available for £40.

The weekend is sure to be a memorable one with a huge contingent of spectators expected to cheer on the competitors.

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Posted by on Jul 23 2012. Filed under Community, What's On. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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