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Magnificent 7 brave ‘Bandelin Over-and-Back’
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Posted on Sep 25 2008
Seven Saipan Swim Club swimmers survived the “Bandelin Over-and-Back” 5K Ocean Swim as weather cooperated in last Sunday’s race.
The Magnificent 7 include young swimmers Andrew and Grace Kimball, Carol Lynn Calobong-Pierce, Maimi Shimizu, Florian Braig, Hiroaki Nishio, and SSC coach Michael Blasberg.
The group left Micro Beach at 6:30am, and arrived at Managaha Island in less than one hour, joining kayakers/guides Steve McKagan and Derek Chambers on the shore.
Swimmers and kayakers took a short break before completing the second part of the race, which is from Managaha Island back to Micro Beach.
Ten-year-old Andrew Kimball surprised the group when he led the swim back to Micro Beach.
“It was a great race. Other than a brief rain, the weather and visibility were great,” said Blasberg, who thanked the support crew for ensuring the safety of the swimmers.
“SSC would like to thank the support staff and boating safety crew for providing escort for the team while swimmers crossed the channel,” Blasberg said.
The 5K ocean swim is one of the events in SSC’s calendar for the 2008-2009 season.
Former SSC coach Michael Stewart named the race after SSC senior swimmer Rachel Bandelin, who wanted to swim from Micro Beach to Managaha and vice versa.
Next month, SSC swimmers will be back at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool in Marpi for a mutual meet with the Tsunami Saipan Swimming Center.
In November, SSC will host another ocean swim with the Eagle Ray 7K kicking off in mid-November. The Eagle Ray race will start from PauPau Beach to Managaha Island.
