Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2019/08/05
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Brave souls! I suppose a tot of Jameson would be waiting at the finish. I thing this one captures the essence of it all: http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/DouglasBray/Sport/Liffey+Swim/LS2019W+467.jpg.html Cheers Jayanand On Tue, Aug 6, 2019 at 4:55 AM Douglas Barry <imra at iol.ie> wrote: > Here are some images from the Liffey Swim - a 2.2 kilometre race that > for the past 100 years has made its way down the river Liffey as it > passes through the centre of Dublin on its way to the Irish Sea. As the > river is not exactly the cleanest place to swim, although it is the most > iconic, the races are held when the tide is high, and thus pollution is > minimised. An old joke goes "How many prizes are there in the Liffey > Swim? First Prize, Second Prize, and everybody in the race gets the Turd > Prize". > > There are two separate races for men and women as the races are > handicaps and can become a bit of a melee passing under the twelve > bridges on the course. With the handicapping system, the slowest go > first, and the fastest last, so the aim is to have all the swimmers > arriving at the finish line at the Customs House together. While such a > scenario never actually happens, this can create a problem going under > those bridges where the span is made up of narrow and low arches. Legs > and arms trash in the competitive frenzy. Goggles and swim hats can be > kicked off in the scrum, and it's not unheard of to hear of displaced > dentures sinking to the bottom. > > While I did triathlons myself back in the '80s which involved long sea > swims, I have never done the Liffey Swim, but as a 70 year old finished > third at the weekend, maybe there's still time :-) I haven't even been > spectating at the Swim for fifty years as the last time I saw it was in > the summer of '69 when I was working in Webbs bookshop on the quays, so > my knowledge of its photographic vantage points was limited. As I had > put my Pentax adapter in a safe place I couldn't use the 200mm lens and > had to use my Sonnar 55mm f1.8 to get max sharpness. > > Here are some images from the day. Click on The Liffey Swim in this > album http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/DouglasBray/Sport/ > > Douglas > > who found the Pentax adapter almost as soon as I got home... > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >