10th Jelgavas Roni Cup – for the fourth time the 1st stage of International Winter Swimming Association (IWSA) World Cup was held in November the 2nd and the 3rd, 2018 in the charming city Jelgava. As it was planned, the venue for the championship was the area between the bridges “Driksas” and “Mītavas” right in the city centre, between the restaurant “Pilsētas Elpa” and the teahouse “Silva”, and promenade on the opposite.
The event was successfully held according to the plan. On November the 2nd registration and accreditation took place, each participant received a certificate for participation, swimmers pass and the JR Cup 2018 commemorative medal. On the 2nd of November distances of 50m, 100m freestyle and 450m endurance swim took place, which were held in the 8x25m lane pool.
The official opening ceremony was held on the 3rd of November with participation of the Jelgava city mayor Andris Rāviņš, representative of the Centre of Sport Services Maija Actiņa, the president of IWSA Mariia Yrjö-Koskinen and the vice president of IWSA, also the main organiser of the JRCup Aleksandr Jakovlev (the chairman of Jelgavas Roni club). Further there were 4 kinds of swims with time control (relay freestyle swim 4х25m, 25m breaststroke, 25m ice-butterfly and 50m breastroke), as well as non-timing swims with 18 new swimmers taking part (11 women and 7 men) in races 25m, 50m and a dip, all of them straight after their swim received a certificate for participation.
The championship was successful and was held on a high organisational level. 231 winter swimmers from 22 countries (Latvia, Finland, United Kingdom, Russia, Estonia, Sweden, Mongolia, Belgium, Belarus, Australia, Brazil, Germany, Switzerland, Czech Republic, France, Denmark, Mexico, China, Poland, Ireland, Slovenia and Chile) took part in Jelgavas Roni Cup 2018. On the whole, there were 515 individual starts (in distances – 50m and 100m freestyle, 25m and 50m breaststroke, 25m butterfly). Including a 450m freestyle swims, 41 swimmer from 9 age groups (14 women and 27 men) took part in the endurance swim. The youngest participant was Mikhail Tulaev from Kaliningrad, Russia (9 years old, club “Amber Walruses”), Aleksandrs Mihaiļenko (12 years old, club “Jelgavas Roņi”, Jelgava, Latvia) and Leo Kopics (club “Akva Vitamin” Saldus, Latvia), and the oldest participant was Jurijs Jakovļevs (83 years old, club “Jelgavas Roņi”, Jelgava, Latvia).
In relay swims in 2 categories (S1 – up to 150 years (the sum of participants’ ages) and S2 – more than 150 years), 12 teams competed for the “Jelgava Roni Cup 2018”. In team S1, the winner was “JR Ice Torpedos”, Jelgava, Latvia (with result 00:54,16 seconds), in the group “S2” – the team “Piter” from St.Petersburg (with result 00:56,80). The winning teams have been awarded with the “Jelgava Roni Cup 2018”.
Considering all points for swims team Russia was awarded with the “Nations Cup”, Russian swimmers earned the most points in all categories, in the 2nd place is Latvia, in the 3rd – in Poland.
Jelgavas Roni Cup 2018 – the 1st stage of IWSA World Cup was successfully organised with support of Jelgava’s City Council, Sporta Servisa centrs, IWSA, organisations: “Jelgavas Jahtklubs”, “Igate”, “Zemgales Olimpiskais centrs”, “Silva”, “Jelgavas reģionālais tūrisma centrs”, “Ķekavas avots”, “Novators”, “Maxima”, “Sportland”, “AKG”, “Simply Food”, “Graci”, “Alitana”, “Hotel Jelgava”, restaurant “Pilsētas Elpa”, “Aizvedīsim”, “Latserviss”, “Academia kafija”, “LatSwim”, “RED chocolate”.
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