Married couple paces 2026 “Swim the Avenues”
by Garth Meyer Irvine’s Hayden Hemmens, 29, took first place overall at the sold-out “Swim the Avenues” 2026, the ocean races held Sept. 13 just off of the Redondo Beach avenue streets. Hemmens finished the 1.2-mile course in 24:25. Gabriel Bellott-McGrath, 30, of Santa Monica took second in a time of 24:38. Arriving in third-place was the top female finisher, Sasha-Lee Hemmens, 29, of Irvine, Hayden’s wife. In (youth) team results for the 1.2-mile traditional swim, Beach Cities Alpha won – the winning time made up of the top five times for each team, whether male or female. In further individual results, Ruben Barajas, 62, of Torrance, took first place in the 1.2-mile wetsuit swim, at 30:59, followed by John Rositer, 62, of Palos Verdes, at 32:31. In third place, Brendan Carlin, 58, of Melbourne, Australia posted a time of 32:42. For the half-mile course, Jio Aono, 12, of Irvine, finished first in 10:27, followed by Maksym Marshchivskyi, 12, of Irvine at 10:41, and Nicholas Kubasik, 13, of Mission Viejo, coming in at 10:41.3. In the half-mile wetsuit, Danylo Marshchivskyi, 8, of Irvine, took first with a time of 13:43, followed by Guy Austin, 69, of Van Nuys, at 14:07. Sam…
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