Record attendance at crana mare

It was the eighth time that the DLRG district association had organized its well-known 24-hour swimming event in cooperation with the city of kronach and the municipal utilities. A total of 341 water rats – 59 more than two years ago – covered a distance of exactly 1192,700 meters, another great achievement! However, the top result of the last event was not quite reached, as some strong performers were not at the start.

Shared seats

From saturday, 1 p.M., to sunday, 1 p.M., the participating water rats aged between five and 75 could do their laps to their heart’s content or according to their condition. Swimming breaks were possible at any time. Also the swimming style could be chosen freely. The hardest swimmers from the respective competition classes were honored with winner trophies. Since there were many close decisions and many a podium position had to be shared, it was sometimes very tight on the "podium".
With 32,050 m, xenia makeev (age group 2003) not only achieved first place in her age group of nine to 15 years, but also the best overall performance of all participants. Second place in this age group went to lara-marie hofmann (15 km), third place to sarah hofmann (12 km). With marius jagusch (age group 2002) and konstantin mesch (age group 2004) two young swimmers reached the top of the podium with a swimming performance of 22.5 km. Third place was awarded three times this year, as kilian wegner, bastian martin and felix kopp each covered 20.1 km.
The most vigorous swimmer of the competition was gerhard wich (born in 1964), who in his age group of 15 years struggled through the water for exactly 30 150 m, followed by bjorn dorsch with 17.9 km and ulrich beez with 17.1 km.
With a strong 30 km, svenja fischer (age group 1999) equaled her swimming performance from 2015 and was again able to secure first place among swimmers over 15 years of age. Karin dressel with 19 km and jessica dietz with 17.9 km followed with a clear distance on the second and third rank.
But not only the performances of the day’s best, but also of all other participants were more than respectable. 341 participants – 144 women and 197 men – took part in the one-day endurance swim. In the youngest age group (up to and including 8 years), florian fischer (age group 2010) and anika walter (age group 2009) won the boys’ race and the girls’ race, respectively. Florian managed 4750 m, anika 8400 m.
The oldest participants also presented themselves in top shape – horst werner in the men’s category with 75 years (2.1 km) and barbara neubauer in the women’s category with 62 years (1600 m). Youngest participants were six-year-old max neidhardt (50 m) and one-year-younger freya schuberth (1 km). The participating groups also ran smoothly. DLRG kronach was once again unbeatable in the club competition. This year it covered an incredible 498.55 km, and the school with the highest number of participants was frankenwaldgymnasium with 30 swimmers.

"For the preservation of the crana mare"

The starting signal was given punctually at 1 p.M. On saturday – by the patron of the event, kronach’s mayor wolfgang beiergroblein, in the presence of the BLSV district chairman karl H. Fuck. DLRG district chief thomas gehring thanked the city and the municipal utilities as cooperation partners.
Beiergroblein thanked – also in his function as deputy district administrator – the DLRG-kreisverband kronach for the organization of the top event as well as for their readiness for action during the whole year. Under rough applause he assured to continue to use all his power for the preservation of the crana mare.
Kilian wegner, renate knobloch, richard bar and barbara neubauer were the first swimmers to enter the water before the pool was opened to all other water rats.
After the successful premiere two years ago, the recording of the participant data and the swimming performance was again done electronically. Responsible for this was christian esser, who was happy about a "super great result" and a record number of participants, which was not expected due to the good weather.
The BLSV district chairman karl H. Fick was responsible for awarding the most active swimmers with their trophies and medals. Beforehand, gehring as well as his deputy klaus bacher wanted to thank all sponsors and the many helpers. "You have done a very good job", bacher especially praised the great support of the water sports clubs – gymnastics and the swimming club of kronach – as well as the members of the DLRG and their members. But the biggest thanks goes to the participating swimmers. The crana mare was provided free of charge by the municipal utility company.