FROM DR. ANDREW CHADEAYNE, INVENTOR OF SWIMSPRAY
This past Sunday, 616 swimmers gathered along the shores of Sandy Point State Park to take on the 2013 4.4 mile Great Chesapeake Bay Swim (GCBS). In a challenging 4.4 mile race that followed the dual-span bridges of the William Preston Lane Jr. Memorial Bridge, Team SwimSpray surprised the competition with a 1-2-3 sweep in the Female 25-29 Division.
Jenny Will, a former swimmer at the University of Wisconsin, led the trio in a time of 1:48.27, placing her 26th overall and 5th within the gender. Shannon Greene and Amara Rivera finished only minutes behind with times of 1:50.33 and 1:52.57, respectively, putting both of them within the top 15 among females in the 4.4 mile race. On the men’s side, Team SwimSpray came in 1st and 2nd for men’s 25-29 and 1st and 3rd for men’s 30-34.
“We are a new team that has been performing well at a lot of different competitions. Last month the guys did an amazing job at the U.S. Masters Swimming Spring National Championships in Indianapolis, and I really wanted to build off of that momentum. It was great to hear all of our names announced one after the other as the top finishers of our age group and as top female finishers overall,” said Rivera, a former University of Delaware swimmer.
Tropical Storm Andrea moved through the region just hours before the race – prompting Anne Arundel County to issue water quality advisories – and currents were reported to be “extremely strong.” Nonetheless, given the prestige of the event and the months of preparation that were committed to the race, the Team SwimSpray athletes, along with the other 1,033 one mile challenge and 4.4 mile swim participants, were far from dissuaded.
“Since moving to D.C. a year ago and joining the fledgling SwimSpray team, all I’d been hearing about was the Chesapeake Bay Swim. The race was definitely a huge mental challenge! That said, I’m so glad that I got to experience the race and can cross that one off my bucket list!” Greene remarked.
“Racing in an environment with elements that can play against you creates a completely different and exciting game. To finish a competition like the GCBS is an accomplishment, and to finish alongside friends at the end makes it that much more rewarding.”
Look for Team SwimSpray at other swim meets, open water races, and triathlons this summer – including the Olympic Club Trans Tahoe Relay, the Motor City Mile, and To The Bridge & Back.
SwimSpray was invented by Dr. Andrew Chadeayne, a former Princeton University swimmer and chemistry Ph.D. from Cornell University. Tired of smelling like chlorine after his swimming workouts, Andrew set out remove chlorine from hair and skin ( SwimSpray works where so many other chlorine removal products (e.g., swimmers’ shampoos) have failed previously because SwimSpray’s all-natural vitamin C based formula breaks this bond, neutralizing the chlorine, and allowing it to be washed away with your favorite soap or shampoo. Follow him on Twitter @swimspray and fan him Facebook.