Back2Bear 2023 - what a day!

What a way to celebrate the past year before a well-deserved summer break for both the swimmers and all of our amazing volunteers. The whole club ventured to Back 2 Bear in Louth - it was a fun-packed day of orienteering, soft gel, angel throwing, and archery activities. Not only was it a day to come together as a team but also our biggest fundraiser of the year. The club relies on our very dedicated volunteers and money raised through grants and fundraising.

We didn’t let the rain and thunderstorms stop us (we don't mind getting wet, after all) and the competition ended with a very competitive Tug of War crowning the winners with medals and prizes. 

We concluded the day by awarding everyone’s efforts at the Sportmans Week event, held back in May - a piece of history that we are proud to continue - read more about it here. With lots of medals and trophies presented to our swimmers, it was fantastic to see the smiles on their faces and everyone joining to celebrate their achievements. Our Chairman, Bob, also took the opportunity to thank everyone involved in organising such a fantastic day and the volunteers continued efforts to run such a successful competitive swimming club. 

We also shared a special moment with Jacqui McIntyre and Adam McIntyre, awarding the McIntyre trophies in memory of James McIntyre, our Director of Swimming, who sadly passed away last December. The trophies awarded the winners of the thrilling Skins race that concluded the Sportsmans Week event and it certainly got the loudest cheer in honour of James. 

The ceremony was wrapped up with the Club Captains introducing a new award where they chose the swimmer who they believed deserved recognition for not only their swimming ability, but their commitment, determination, respectfulness, and all-round good egg - the award going to Callie. Well done! 

We then revealed the newly appointed Club Captains and Vice Captains, this year nominated by not just the Senior Coach (L3) and Coaches (L2) but the Assistant Coaches (L1) and the Team Managers who see them on poolside at galas. These decisions are not made lightly and it took many hours to finally decide who was to take on these important roles for the next year. Well done to Leon, Evie, Charlotte, Oliver, Ruby and Olivia. 

Finally, just before we all headed home, the raffle was drawn with members winning some generously donated prizes including a Magna Vitae annual membership, Apple Airpods and Ninja Airfryer. The day was a great success, only possible by all of our incredible volunteers! It takes a lot of time and commitment to plan fundraisers like this and we are always very keen to welcome more volunteers to the club! We also owe a lot of thanks to the awesome Back 2 Bear team.

So many fantastic photos from the day, here are a selected few.