Last Sunday, May 7, the 3rd edition of Sherry Swim. That for this third edition it changed location, leaving the mouth of the Guadalquivir, in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, to be located in the famous Barrosa beach from Chiclana de la Frontera (Cádiz). A test that has brought together almost 200 swimmers, to swim one of the two distances scheduled by the organization; the “medium” on 1,900m or the “long” on 3,800m.
On a route of a large rectangle parallel to Playa de la Barrosa, delimited by 4 large buoys, and located about 200m from the shore; with two other buoys in the middle of the long side, which connected with the beach both at the start and at the finish. To which the 1,900m swimmers gave a single lap, and those of the queen test, the 3,800m gave two. The 1.9K test started at 11:00 in the morning, and the 3.8K test at 11:30; with the low tide and beginning to rise the tide. At the time of the tests, the sea was somewhat choppy, with waves and wind, which made it difficult to see the reference buoys, making it very difficult for the swimmers to orient themselves.
The Huelva Ruben Gutierrez repeated presence in this test, which has swum in all its editions; being 3rd in the 1,900m Overall Classified in 2021 and 3,800m Overall Runner-up in 2022. And on this occasion, he once again opted for the long distance.
After the starting horn, and a short stretch of running through the sand, Rubén reaches the water third; but as he began to swim, he noticed pain in his right calf that led him to take the first few meters calmly. He sees how several swimmers overtake him until they reach the 1st turn buoy in 6th position. At that moment, the swimmers in front go one by one, and Rubén stands at the feet of the 5th swimmer and together they catch up with the 4th, forming a group of up to 6 swimmers who chase the three escapees.
At the head of the race, one of the swimmers becomes disoriented and leaves the course, being disqualified. The group also gets disoriented in many phases of the test, Rubén being the one who leaves the group and heads towards the buoys, until the rest realize the maneuver and follow him.
In the final meters the group loses units, only 3 reaching the final sprint, in which Rubén prevails, finally reaching como Absolute Third Classified to the finish line, with a time of 1h00’47”, which serves to also be Men’s Veteran Runner-upafter Ildefonso Barrera.
This has been the fifth test of the open water season for Rubén, where he has obtained the third podium of the Absolute General Classification (2 victories and this third place); being in all the tests within the Top 5.
Finally, it should be noted that he has chained his 31st consecutive podium finish (in his age group), since the beginning of June 2022, (15 Victories – 12 Seconds – 4 Third Places).
