Fifty-three swimmers competed in a total of fifty-one events at the thirtieth Annual George Anderson Memorial Lions Swim Meet held Saturday, 6 May.

This event is sponsored each year by the Lions Club of Grand Cayman, assisted by the Lions Club of Cayman Brac, Brac swim coaches and volunteers.

One of the most popular sporting events of the year on Cayman Brac, it is always enthusiastically supported by family and friends, and spectators were able to enjoy, for the first time, the new bleachers at the pool.

“The swim meet was fun and closely contested between the two Brac primary schools for most of the morning, and there were a number of exciting races that featured a wildly cheering crowd and tight finishes in all age groups,” said Brac Swim Coach Michael Hundt. 

“The true test of success is when swimmers, particularly the youngest ones, inspired by the atmosphere and encouragement of the crowd, come up to you begging to swim in another race,” he added.

“To me, that makes it worth the effort involved in organising these swim meets.” Mr Hundt and Susan Hundt were made honorary Lions Members after the event, in recognition of their hard work organizing the meets over the years.

Although there were only ten high school swimmers competing this year, a close finish between Felix Ebanks and Geoffrey Grizzel in many of the races in the Boys Senior division made for an exciting competition.

In the primary races, Hayley Grizzel kept the pressure up on school mate Keristen Scott for some split second wins in the Girls open events, even though they were in separate age groups.

Following tradition, the meet ended with a fun adult relay, in which the “Under Thirties” (Jonathon Tibbetts, Rocky Edwards, Fernando Ebanks and Remardo Ebanks) took on the “Way over Thirties” (Trevor and Una Jones, Mike Nye and Clive Baker).

Final results for the primary schools were as follows: Champion School for the second consecutive year was Creek and Spot Bay Primary School (300 points), with West End Primary School not far behind (278 points).

Individual results were: Best Effort Girl - Mirta Walton, Best Effort Boy - Stefon Scott, Champion Girl - Keristen Scott, who placed first in every event, and Champion Boy - Edward Baker.

High School results were: Best Effort Girl - Melicia Ebanks, Best Effort Boy - Geoffrey Grizzel, Champion Girl - Mya Dunkley, Champion Boy - Felix Ebanks.

The trophy for Outstanding Swimmer of the Meet was awarded to primary student Martha Rivers.

Lions Club of Cayman Brac President Mark Tibbetts said, “I would like to thank everyone for their support at this meet.  My congratulations, as well, to all the competitors who did a fantastic job.”