Avondale narrowly beat their Surrey rivals Sutton and Cheam to become the highest placed water polo team (possibly) in the 3k swim. Whilst registering for the event Jonnie and Dave noticed an impossibly tall foreign chap who looked like he knew his way around a rowing lake without a boat! Focco sensing a fellow Dutchman in his midst quickly found out that it was none other than Maarten Van Der Weijden, the Olympic 10k gold medallist. Well the boys now knew that they should have someone to slipstream around the lake, of course sprinting past him in the last 50 yards to take the win, at least that was the race plan. As the race started and 188 swimmers fought to get in the slipstream of the Dutch Master those well tuned water polo skills came in very handy and the Avondale lads managed to get themselves up near the front of the pack. The field quickly thinned out and by about 500 meters the high elbows and tactical manoeuvres essential in a water polo game gave way to the extended steady strokes of the long distance swimmer.
Unfortunately the boys didn't manage to implement the race plan but all put in an extremely credible effort and did the Avondale name proud. Special mention goes to Dave Brooks who got caught up in the excitement of the race and also caught up in the swimmers he was lapping a decided to start on a 4th lap of the 1k circuit. Luckily sense prevailed and after about 50 meters Dave turned around and found his way out of the water.
| First Name | Last Name | Age category | Finish time | Position | Category Position |
| Maarten | Van Der Weijden | U30 | 0:32:25 | 1 | 1 |
| Jonathan | Beder | 30-39 | 0:37:54 | 7 | 3 |
| David | Brooks | 40-49 | 0:39:53 | 15 | 3 |
| Focco | Van der vegt | 40-49 | 0:42:42 | 29 | 6 |
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