From Skippingstone Beach on the west side of Bangor Bay on Belfast Lough to the RNLI slipway in the Harbour is 800 metres and last week 200 swimmers raced that distance in the swim called the 'Pickie to Pier' named when it began back in 1910. It was run until 1989 and resurrected in 2019, then suspended during the Pandemic, only to be held again last year.

Pickie was the name of the open-air swimming pool near Skippingstone, long since demolished and in those days, there wasn’t the comfort of accompanying boats, kayaks and paddle boards for safety. One old hand said they just raced across the Bay to the Pier and that was that!

At the Pickie to Pier finish

The 200-strong group was made up of around 60% female and 40% male. The first four finishers were all women. First was Jessika Robson who won last year, in 9 minutes 15 seconds. Second was Jessika’s sister, Holly just 10 seconds later to be followed by Sian Clements in 9min 45sec.

The event drew large crowds and is no doubt now an established popular part of the Seaside Revival organised by Open House Festival, a charitable organization working towards the regeneration of Bangor.