Britain Defends Turf in LEN Open Water Swimming Cup

LONDON, England, June 16. BRITAIN claimed both the men's and women's titles in the LEN (European Aquatics) Open Water Swimming Cup 5K held in London, England on June 16 as part of the Festival of Open Water Swimming this weekend.

Alan Bircher crossed the line in 56:49.24 to win ahead of a pair of Frenchmen for the men's title. Countrymen Bertrand Venturi (56:49.87) and Julien Codevelle (56:54.51) took silver and bronze, respectively.

"I hadn't planned to go out fast, but I lead off well from the start and just thought I'd go for it," Bircher told British Swimming. "I knew if I got into the lead the French and Spanish guys would just sit behind me, so I did a lot of leading out there.

"Before the race I decided if I was at the front I'd really go for it from the far buoy. I kicked as hard as I could but I couldn't quite shake off the French guy. I managed to get him on the final sprint though.

"Tomorrow will be a different ball game, it's anybody's race. I was eighth at the Worlds and I need to get back on track. I've got eight months to the Olympic qualification event in Seville and I'm finally back into full training and training at the level I should be."

Cassandra Patten clocked a 1:02:00.72 to win the women's crown, while Russia's Anna Guseva snared silver in 1:02:02.27. Germany's Stefanie Biller garnered bronze in 1:02:03.56.

Patten, according to reports by British Swimming, overcame a scary car accident earlier in the morning as she traveled to the event with teammate Keri-Anne Payne. Payne, incidentally, took fourth in the event in 1:02:03.87.

"I'm pleased with that," Patten told British Swimming. "I think that's the worst preparation ever for a race. Our plane from Spain was delayed by around three hours and the weather made the driving conditions appalling. I think I might have mild whip lash from the accident.

"I'm not normally good over 5K, but before I got in that water someone reminded me I won the LEN event last year and that gave me an extra boost.

"I felt really relaxed at half way, I paced myself well and I wasn't over-anxious about not leading, which was good. I swam with Keri-Anne for a lot of the race which helped as we're not rough with each other and I'm really pleased she swam well although I'm sure she'd like to have medaled."

Click Here to view PDF results file of 5K event.

Additionally, Chad Ho won the boys 3K junior race in 36:00.93, while Aynsley Heseltine won the girls 3K in 39:12.28.

Special thanks to British Swimming for contributing to this report.

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