Flowers’ big splash returns

The Flowers One Mile Sea Swim is approaching for its 34th time and this year’s event promises to be as spectacular as ever.

It is on Saturday 13 June and remains a must-do event for open water aficionados which is why it remains one of the world’s top 10 open water swims.

The Flowers Sea Swim is Grand Cayman’s summer flagship sporting event, hosting 1000 registered participants. Participants vary in age from 8 to 80 years old and in skill from novices and first-timers to gold medal Olympians and world championship open water specialists from around the globe.

The unique draw of the Flowers Sea Swim is not only its flawless course conditions along Cayman’s beautiful Seven Mile Beach but the numerous random prizes. The race is the world’s richest open water event with over $100,000 in cash and random prizes.

The odds to win a random prize are 1-in-7 and previous giveaways have included smartphones, tablets, hotel stays, and dozens of airline tickets to premier destinations such as Miami, New York, Panama, Rome, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago, London, Dublin, Rio de Janeiro and Toronto. All finishers receive a fantastic T-shirt and goody bag filled with prizes and surprises.

Registration is now open. All swim registration proceeds will be donated to the Swim Free Program. The 3k and 10k events will not be held this year. Top international swimmers this year include Roland Schoeman (South Africa) and Americans Erica Sullivan, Conor Dwyer and Neil Walker. Schoeman was a world record holder in multiple events, and was a member of the South African swimming team at the 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games. He won a gold medal representing South Africa in the 4x100 freestyle relay at the 2004 Athens Olympics and between 2000-2014 won numerous medals including seven golds in freestyle, and butterfly events at the World Championships, Pan American, and Commonwealth games.