On a day which saw a record 493 swimmers take to the waters of Harrington Sound for the 35th Round The Sound Swim on Sunday, siblings Elanna and Noah Fulton triumphed in their respective races.

Elanna was the winner of the 6K with a time of 1hr 15min 46sec, the same time as her coach Alex Waldauer, the men’s champion.

Noah (57:17) held off a strong challenge from Jackson Langley (58:44) and Gianluca Bortoli (58:47) to secure the 4K event. Jorgia White was the top female in a time of 59:23.

Elanna, who conquered the 800-metre swim at the same event last year, was pleased with the result in her third time competing in open water.

“It felt amazing to win and it was definitely a fight to get that top spot,” the 17-year-old told The Royal Gazette.

“At the start I was just trying to keep pace and then I was drafting off a few people. When I found my coach, I kept up with him and then towards the end I just fought for it.

“I think I really beat him because he said he was going to give up but not without a fight. We raced together for a good 3K, we were back-and-forth then I sprinted right at the end.

“I wanted to try something longer, especially as this will be the last time I’ll probably compete as a junior. I’m turning 18 next year so I’m going up to the open age group.

“There was good competition with a lot of people. I feel grateful to be a part of it because there were a lot of people who flew in from all over the world.

“I spoke to a few people that had come from the United States and they’d done a lot of open water, but they have never done it in Bermuda, so it’s just great to be a part of it.”

While he was not expecting much against older competitors in his second attempt in open water, the 15-year-old Noah was delighted to complete a perfect day for the Fulton family in front of his appreciative parents.

“It feels good to win and my sister also won, which was nice for both of us,” he said.

“When I first got out, everybody told me, but I was expecting her to win. I didn’t think I was going to, though. I thought I was going to come top three, but I didn’t think I was going to come first but I just held my pace.

“Jackson and Luca were also on top of each other, which worked to my advantage. They just kept going back-and-forth, slowing both of them down.

“I was by myself, so I didn’t have anybody pushing me down or making me slower. What I think won it for me was just pushing ahead at the start and then just holding that pace out to the end.”

Derek Cox, from Manhattan, New York, won the 10K in a time of 2:00:48. He was followed by Bermuda resident Craig Munden in 2:03:39 with American Eric Nilsson (2:04:30) third.

Mitchell Maedel, a team-mate of Bermuda swimmer Connor Hupman at Baylor School in Chattanooga, Tennessee, was fourth in 2:13:19.

Logan Jones, the youngest swimmer in the 10K at the age of 15, clocked 2:16:34 to finish sixth, while Hupman was close behind in 2:16:36.

Nina Coetzer was the first woman across the finish line to be champion for the fourth time. Her time of 2:17:37 placed her eight overall and her husband, Bradley Coetzer, was right behind her in 2:17:47.

Cox, a former NCAA swimmer for Princeton University, was surprised to win the 10K at the first time of asking.

“I knew I could at least take the second half of the race fast but having not swum that far, anything can happen,” the 28-year-old said.

“I’ve recently gotten a little bit more into open water. Most recently, I was supporting Fleur Sohtz, she recently swam the English Channel and she did the 4K here.

“When I spoke to my coach Paul Green earlier this year, he mentioned doing this swim. I figured this would be a great debut, so to speak, since Bermuda is such a beautiful place, great water and really fun place to do a long swim.

“I knew 10K is really long, so I wanted to make sure I was in good shape for it.

“The weather turned out really nice, especially towards the back half of the swim. It was particularly beautiful and it was really enjoyable.

“At the start, it was a little bit difficult, because of the mist, visibility was a little low, and also because of the storms, they couldn’t put out as many buoys. So, I actually spent a good portion of the race just trying to figure out where I was going, especially since this is my first time on the course.

“Maybe if I come back and do it again, I’ll have a better grasp of what the course is like. We were able to get through it, and as the weather turned, visibility improved, so I was able to go for it a little more.”

Munden was delighted to race against faster opponents as that contributed to his rapid approach to the race.

“I was really lucky to have these two lads flying in who were super fast and get some extra competition in here,” Munden said.

“We only have four races a year in Bermuda, so it was nice to get out there and race these guys that came in. It’s great to have people flying over here for this race and raise the profile of these Bermuda events.

“Getting more guys over here is always a good thing. Hopefully we get more fast people, that’ll help me step up my game because the better the competition is, the better it does for all of us here.

“We got pretty lucky in the end with the conditions there. On Saturday, it was looking a bit worrying with all the wind and we were a bit worried about what was going to happen.

“But changing the course up there was interesting, something I wasn’t really expecting. Going out and back, the water turned out to be pretty flat and it was a pretty nice swim out there.”

Nina Coetzer was pleased to defend her title in a race in which she was not anticipating a lot.

“I didn’t have too many expectations with the storm that passed yesterday, but it was definitely a lot better than I had expected,” she said.

“Coming around halfway, turning back was a little bit tricky because you had a lot of swimmers coming into your direction. So, trying to hold a straight line was quite tricky but then for the rest of the race it was quite nice to try to sit with a pack.

“They were a nice group sitting at the front so just trying to hold an easy pace. The competition was strong and there were a lot of fast men out today.

“I was leading all the girls from the start and just tried to get into a good rhythm and maintain the pace.”

Madison Schindel, who is on a break from Trinity College School in Canada, clinched the 800-metre swim in 11:19, while Elena Bortoli was second in 11:32. Maxwell Williams, 12, took the male title in 12:26, which placed him fifth overall.

American Will Keating took the 2K in 22:58 with Bermudian Noah Maranzana (23:58) runner-up. Violet Smith, from Bermuda, was the first female in 24:41.

Michael Cash, one of the event organisers, spoke of the challenges his team encountered in putting together this year’s racw.

“Saturday’s weather prevented us from setting the buoys on the north side of the course,” Cash said.

“With a choice of cancelling the swim or rearranging the routes, we modified the course to be an “out and back” course, getting some extra safety for the swimmers.

“We had a record sign-up in total and of overseas visitors. Between overseas swimmers and their non-swimming companions the event drew about 415 visitors to the island.

“We had visitors from various countries [US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Switzerland] and people enjoyed themselves even with the variable weather for the week.

“The regular finish location hosted the post-event festivities and people had a great time with great sharing of experiences between the local and overseas swimmers.”