Christine Manna
Fun, friendships, food, and fine wine. These are just a few of the things that made up this year’s Eco-Swim, where over 80 swimmers, ranging in ages 4 -71, representing 17 states and five countries, participated in either the one mile, 5K, 10K or kids pier to pier swim along the beautiful coastline of Bonaire, the Caribbean island located in the Netherlands Antilles.
On an overcast Saturday morning on November 5th at 8:00 a.m., swimmers started their engines from the water together near the dock of Captain Don’s Habitat, the start and finish location of the race.
Starting with the 10K swim, there were 19 competitors participating, with the overall winner being Jimmy Welborn, age 50 from Chattanooga, TN, with a time of 2:03.20 who defended his title from last year. It was a close race with 28-year old Miriam Nowak 11 seconds behind him, where she touched second overall and finished as the top female with a time of 2:03.31.
Competing in the 5K were 26 swimmers, where Juan Chavez, age 38 from Medellin, Colombia took the prize as top finisher with a time of 1:02.40. Former Canadian Olympian, Carol Carr from Franklin, TN, age 42, wasn’t too far away, as she finished second overall with a time of 1:06.14. Jamal Trenidad, 13 years, the youngest Bonairean participant in the 5K did a fabulous job with fins and ended up in 3rd place.
Twenty-two swimmers participated in the one-mile race, as
Pieter Zweers, age 48 from Bonaire won with a time of 29:30, where the top
female finisher in this category was Sheila Peters, age 46 from
“This was the largest participation we’ve ever had for this race in Bonaire,” said Randy Nutt, event director who has been organizing the Bonaire races for the last five years. “We even had a vacationing couple, Nancy and Paul Ronan from Brooklyn, NY, who was celebrating their 16th year anniversary on the day of the race that had heard about the swim two days before and participated.”
Along with Nashville, TN and Venezuela, we had new teams join us for the first time this year, which included the areas of Naperville, IL and Austin, TX. “We loved every minute of the week from the spectacular fish to the wonderful new friends we have met,” said Sue Welker, head coach of Naperville Waves Swim Club. “About 200 yards into our first group swim of the week, I turned to one of my swimmers, Michelle Sims and said, this is what adult swimming is all about, being fit and healthy enough to do swims like this and enjoy the fabulous water here in Bonaire! Masters swimming at its best was found on this island! Thanks so much to Randy Nutt and the harem of helpers!”
“Like previous years, we were very fortunate to receive a
lot of great support from The Bonaire Hotel & Tourism Association, where
they assisted in providing pre-race goodie bags that included a racing swim
cap, Bonaire post cards, a 2006 wall calendar and a t-shirt,” added Nutt. “In addition, they were involved in working
with Bonaire’s
Other than swimming, everyone enjoyed each other as they made new friends while dining at many of Bonaire’s exquisite restaurants including one in particular, Capriccio’s, where they served excellent Italian food and fine wine.
The day after the race, swimmers took part in coming onboard an authentic Siamese Sailing Junk, called the Samur that was built in Bangkok, Thailand in 1968. The 56’ long, 16’ wide and 6’ draft ship set sail for a 3 ½ hour cruise, where everyone got to enjoy refreshing cocktails and delicious appetizers. During the middle of the cruise, the Samur dropped anchor and everyone got to enjoy snorkeling on the other side of the Bonaire Island.
Next year’s race in 2006 will be here before you know it, so stay tuned for details. For further information, you can e-mail Randy at info@randynutt.com or visit www.AquaMoonAdventures.com.