by Carl Haynie
For the last decade, the Last Splash of Summer has been an enjoyable open water swim event held each year in September at Angle Lake Park in SeaTac, thanks to host Blue Wave Aquatics. The race understandably changed its name in 2020 from “Last Gasp of Summer” in deference to the pandemic. Good move, guys!
And what a great idea by President Dan Underbrink to suggest Angle Lake Park afterwards as the site of this year’s TWIM Fest! More on TWIM Fest later in this broadcast…
…but first: The Last Splash with some 85 swimmers competing ranging in age from 11 to 75!
Last Splash of Summer (Sat, Sep 17th)
TWIMmers Brad Jones, Kathy Pelham, Valerie Thompson, Dan Underbrink, and newly dubbed “First Lady” and honorary TWIMmer, Mary Underbrink, took part in this year’s fun.
Wait. Fun? Enjoyable? What possesses a person to thrash around for one or two miles in freezing water under cold, rainy Seattle skies?
Well, this year was exceptional. It was not only a beautiful morning where the smoke from recent weeks held off, but the relative balmy water temperature of 68-69 F proved a non-issue after I got a debriefing from our two non-wetsuiters, Brad and Kathy.
But only after it was ALL over.
Yours truly had planned to swim in the one-mile wetsuit division, but an angry dog from the day before had other ideas when he bit off a piece of my left elbow.
[dramatic pause to allow the reader’s sympathy to wash over my entire being]
I’m okay! No stitches. Just antibiotics, a renewed Tetanus shot, and a note from the doc: ‘if it were me, I wouldn’t swim in a lake with that!’. Superficial laceration. I was perfectly happy taking pictures of the event and cheering my teammates on.
Also competing was Casey Schwenk from Gig Harbor, who we adopted into our TWIM Compound for the day. Casey, we’ll make it easy for you to join us for real: namely here. We’d love to have you!
Always the stalwart supporter at each event he attends, our own Vic Pace (Valerie’s husband) was on hand to help guide swimmers to the finish line. Thanks, Vic, and thanks Eric Durban, Mike Murphy, Wendy Neely, and the vast array of organizers and volunteers who made this event such a success!
Puget Sound Fire was there ensuring everyone’s safety, too. Thanks, guys.
Now for the results….drum roll, please….
Brad Jones finished 4th male overall and 1st in his age group in the 2 Mile No Wetsuit division with a time of 52:35.3! Congratulations, Brad!
Kathy Pelham finished 4th female overall and 1st in her age group in the 1 Mile No Wetsuit division with a time of 28:33.6. Way to go, Kathy!
Valerie Thompson showed that turning 70 is no excuse for not tackling an event like this! She cruised to a sweet 47:11.5 time in the 1 Mile Wetsuit division and 2nd place in her age group. Excellent work, Valerie!
Dan Underbrink finished 6th male overall in the 2 Mile Wetsuit division and 2nd in his age group with a time of 1:02:39.9. Way to crush it, Dan!
Mary Underbrink finished 6th female overall in the 1 Mile Wetsuit division and 1st in her age group with a time of 39:26.5. Nice going, Mary!
Finally, congrats to Casey Schwenk who showed everyone that runners can finish a grueling 2 Mile No Wetsuit swim, no problem! Did I mention that join link to you yet, Casey?
Twenty-three-year-old Jared Graham finished with a course record 40:41.6 in the 2 Mile No Wetsuit division. You heard me right, no wetsuit! He led all swimmers by a large margin at the end of length 1 of lap 1 and never let up on the gas.
Full results can be found at this link.
TWIM Fest 2022
Happening immediately after the awards ceremony was our annual meeting of the members and a feast of delicious potluck offerings. The TWIM Compound that Dan and Vic built was so well architected that we had to turn away more than one Last Splash participant who thought we were the registration tent. Oops.
Along with our morning competitors and yours truly, TWIMmers in attendance at the gathering included the one and only Thomas Walker and the unstoppable Stephen Fogg.
After some TWIM Booster Club business where we congratulated the previously and unanimously nominated Dan Underbrink, Tom Walker, and Kathy Pelham to new 3-year terms as President, Vice President, and Secretary, respectively, we dove into great food and pleasant conversation.
A good time was had by all, even though a fight broke out as to who could stand next to Kathy in the group shot.
Hope to see you at the next TWIM Fest!
How did Brad get up there?
