On Sunday 20 September 2020, our Braník clubhouse hosted the year’s second “triple event”: a work party, time trial and campfire. As in spring, we began with the work party. More volunteers came this time, allowing us to get plenty done, including mowing the grass, painting the fence and cleaning the changing rooms. Miloš Paseka again directed the work. Many thanks to everyone who lent a hand.
The second discipline was the club time trial. Unlike the spring event, we returned to the traditional 750-metre distance, with a turn: 375 metres upstream and back. The start and finish were therefore in the same place.
The air temperature was 26.0°C and the water 17.2°C. The start was called at around 18:30, and 52 swimmers began covering the first metres. Businessman Josef Kysilka finished first, more than forty seconds ahead of triathlete Ondra Teplý. Just one second behind him came overseas stock-market investor Mike Atwell in third. Spring winner Mike Hudson, Zdeněk Sláma, Jakub Valníček and others followed; see the results below.
Katka Vožická won the women’s race, finishing just under half a minute ahead of spring winner Jitka Vachtová. New member Jana Adolfová was delighted to take third place. We also used our new large orange finish buoy for the first time. It has been named “BOŽENKA” in honour of our oldest member, Boženka Černá.
As we sat by the fire roasting sausages, the carefully compiled time-trial results were announced, once again personally confirmed by swimming federation official Petr Dvořák. As always, Michal Kohoutek played guitar and sang, joined by plenty of others.