More Than 1,000 Swimmers Frolic in Lake Beryessa Swim as Suzanne Heim-Bowen Wins Women’s 1- and 2-Mile
Story and Photos by Peter Kapetanic
Morgan Hill Swim Club
LAKE BERRYESSA, Calif., June 12. THE Davis Aquatics Masters Swim Club (DAM) successfully hosted the 22nd annual Lake Berryessa 1 and 2 mile open water swim this past Saturday, June 7, 2003.
The problems of the past few years have been resolved through a stronger working relationship among the state Bureau of Reclamation, DAM, and the swimming participants.
Prior to last year's event, DAM was told by the state Bureau of Reclamation that it would not allow the event to be held in the future. The main concern was related to the large number of cars (due to lack of carpooling), and the resulting environmental impact to the area. DAM appealed the decision and with the help of Congressman Mike Thompson (of Napa), and the help of the carpooling-swimmer participants, hosted last year's very successful event.
This year's event was equally successful. The positive feeling were enhanced as the early morning overcast skies cleared to sunny skies midway through the 2 mile swim. The water temperature was a comfortable 73 degrees.
There was a total of 1066 entries in the 6 events. The breakdown by event was as follows:
1-mile masters: 215 women 193 men
2-mile masters: 198 women 214 men
1-mile wetsuit: 10 women 9 men
2-mile wetsuit: 41 women 40 men
1-mile USA: 64 women 55 men
500-yd Youth: 18 women 9 men
Top 3 Women, 2-mile masters:
Suzanne Heim-Bowen (WCM) 0:39:47
Lisa Hazen 0:42:04
Laurie Vidal (WCM) 0:42:57
Top 3 Men, 2-mile masters:
Sandy McDonald (SAC) 0:39:54
Randall Eickhoff 0:40:03
David Utley (STAN) 0:40:09
Top 3 Women 1- mile masters:
Suzanne Heim-Bowen (WCM) 0:20:25
Clarine Falcis (USF) 0:21:23
Lisa Hazen 0:21:31
Top 3 Men 1-mile masters:
Randall Eickhoff 0:19:57
Matthew Davie 0:20:01
Darryl Johnson (AH) 0:20:04
A special thanks goes out to all those people that made this event happen, including Davis Aquatics Masters, Laurel King (DAM Race Director), Congressman Mike Thompson, and the state Bureau of Reclamation.
Complete Results can be found at: http://www.damfast.org/index.html