Youth rule the sea in Swim the Avenues
Ryan Bullock, of Hermosa Beach, continued his domination of local swim events by winning his third Swim the Avenues.
The Alpha Aquatics Swim Club turned out in force.
Co-organizer Ryan Mineo rallies swimmers at the start.
Young swimmers race up the beach to the finish, after swimming the half mile race.
by Garth Meyer
Ava Albertson, a 13-year-old Junior Lifeguard from El Segundo, who swims for Alpha Aquatics, was the first female finisher among nearly 600 competitors in the one mile Swim the Avenues race Sunday.
Her time of 25:50 was just over three minutes behind Ryan Bullock’s first place, overall time of 22:07. Bullock also won the inaugural Swim the Avenues in 2018, and in 2019. The race was suspended in 2020 because of the pandemic.
Last month, Bullock won the International Surf Festival Dwight Crum Pier to Pier swim for the fourth consecutive time and his fifth in six efforts.
Two 16-year-olds, Nicholas Jones of San Pedro, and Alexander Cole, of El Segundo, finished second and third in the Swim the Avenues, in times of 22:52 and 23:23, respectively.
“A lot of Junior Lifeguards participate in Swim the Avenues,” said co-organizer Mike Ward, owner of Village Runner. “The kids do surprisingly well. Swimming kids are fast.”
The Junior Guards were at an advantage this year, particularly over pool swimmers, because of their ocean swimming experience.
The current racing north was so strong that after rounding the final buoy and swimming the final 50 yards to shore, participants were swept as much as 100 yards north of the beach finish line.
A 10 mile-per hour wind also meant chop which made breathing and staying on course harder.
The race is traditionally held in July when conditions are calmer, but was moved to September because of the pandemic.
In the one-mile wetsuit division, Rob McGarry, 48, of Hermosa Beach, took first in 17:16. Mikel Glavinovich, 50, of Redondo Beach, finished second in 17:54 and Tyler Fidler, 24, of Los Angeles was third, in 23:57.
In the half-mile, no wetsuit division, Trey Mastandrea, a 15-year-old from Palos Verdes, took first, while Jack Rodenkirch, 12, of Rancho Palos Verdes, was second. Ian Tumamak, 13, of Lomita, finished third.
In the half-mile wetsuit division, Lloyd Umali, 42, of Burbank, won, followed by Brett Drogmund, 49, of Hermosa Beach. Charli Robinson, an 11-year-old from Torrance, finished third.
Swim The Avenues co-organizer Rick Crump, a P.E. teacher at Adams Middle School in Redondo Beach, offered his students an incentive to sign up.
“You won’t have to run the mile for the rest of the quarter if you finish the swim. And you can wear the T-shirt for your P.E. uniform,” he said. “It’s just nice to see people finding open-water swimming a cool sport,” he added.
Ryan Mineo of Swim Mechanics also co-organized the race.
Mayor Bill Brand helped inaugurate the event in 2018 to showcase Redondo Beach as an open water swim venue for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. ER