In Memory Of Bente Weber
Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.
The Nevis to St. Kitts Cross-Channel Swim, or the Bente Weber Memorial Swim, is a 2.5-mile inter-island Caribbean Sea swim across the Narrows from Nevis to St. Kitts.
It starts at Oualie Beach on Nevis with the finish at Cockleshell Bay on St. Kitts in an area known as the “Narrows”. The event record was set by Olivier Marceau in a time of 58:09 in 2011. The men’s record is held by Roger Brown in 1:05.38. Over 200 swimmers took part this year.
In 2012, it also incorporates the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States open water swimming championships, 1 km (‘Short Course’) and 4 km (‘Long Course’) races on Nevis. It is a memorial swim as a tribute to the legacy of Bente Weber.
Winston Crooke, President of the St. Kitts and Nevis Triathlon, explains who the wonderful, selfless person Bente was. “Bente and Gerd Weber, who both had a huge impact on the development of our young Cycle and Triathlon Club in Nevis, started visiting Nevis for their winters. Gerd was a competitive masters swimmer and taught us all how to swim properly and better, myself included. Meanwhile, Bente took over most of our club administration and timed our events.
They were visitors to Nevis over a period of 5 years staying here for 4 months a year. Under their guidance, we were able to make the transfer to become fully fledged triathletes and our swimming improved immensely. Unfortunately we lost Bente to cancer so I decided to host an event in her memory each year. It started as just a group of friends and visitors and has grown each year since. We still miss her energy, enthusiasm and overall good-naturedness.”
The results of the podium finishers are posted here.
Copyright © 2014 by World Open Water Swimming Association
