It was an action packed weekend for the swimming community- with a four-day swim meet followed by the 36th Annual Open Water 5K, sponsored by KPMG.

The Cayman Islands Amateur Swimming Association (CIASA) was pleased to host international swimmer Emily Brunneman. Emily was named the USA Swimming Female Open Water Swimmer of the Year by CSCAA Scholar All-America in 2010 and more recently, her experienced career has lead her to be selected as the Unión Americana de Natación (UANA or the Amateur Swimming Union of the Americas) athlete representative for the open water technical committee. Sean has been a member of the US Open Water National Team since 2008 and most recently competed in the 10K Open Water Event in Rio.

Together with 45 other swimmers, Emily competed in the 36th Annual Open Water 5K, sponsored by KPMG. It was a beautiful morning on Seven Mile Beach with lovely conditions for competitors to partake in the three loop swim.

Emily maintained pace with four local swimmers John Bodden, Alex McCallum, Liam Henry and Jonathan Key.  She pulled ahead of the pack to win the race in a time of 1.00.35.  John Bodden edged out the rest of the first pack to place second (1.03.55).  The remainder of the lead pack included Alex McCallum (3rd, 1.06.28), Liam Henry (4th, 1.06.29) and Jonathan Key (5th 1.06.53).  Not far behind this group were the second and third woman swimmers, Ria Plunkett (1.08.05) and Sam Bailey (1.08.58).

Cayman’s Olympic swimmer, Lara Butler, who is employed by KPMG was on hand to represent the company, volunteer and to present the awards.

Race Director and CIASA Board Member, Dr. Gillian Belfonte commented, “Together with our sponsors, KPMG and Pirates Week, CIASA is proud to continue the tradition of the Pirates Week 5K swim.  We are happy to welcome back Emily to our wonderful event.  I would like to also acknowledge the swimmers who partook in this event and distance for the very first time. Well done on your achievement of this challenging distance.”

Commenting on the CIASA event, KPMG Partner Sheenah Hislop added, “Inspiring and enabling our swimmers to achieve excellence in the sport of swimming can cultivate other positive achievements for our youth, including positive mental attitudes, high self-esteem, increased focus, sportsmanship and general healthy lifetime activity.  We are happy to support CIASA in their efforts”

For more information on the sea swim, please visit: www.ciasa.ky

The Cayman Islands Amateur Swimming Association (CIASA) is a volunteer, not for profit association dedicated to furthering the interests of all aquatic sports in the Cayman Islands. CIASA is the recognised Governing Body of aquatic sports in the Cayman Islands and is a member of FINA, UANA, CCCAN and the CIOC. For more information on CIASA please visit www.ciasa.ky .