Organizers of annual event seek missing perpetual trophies
The Seal Beach Swim Club will host the 50th Annual Rough Water Swim on Saturday, June 22, at the Seal Beach Pier. The event has races for everyone from a 5K and 1 mile for adults and 200 yards to 1200 yards races for youth.
Two locals have been at every race since 1969, Scott Weir and Marilyn Bittle.
Weir swam, hosted, coached, and now announces the race.
Bittle has been staging participants before each race. Now Bittle’s daughter Kalani Caldwell works alongside her.
The Seal Beach Rough Water Swim started as a combined event with the Seal Beach Swim Club (by then-Head Coach Ron Blackledge) and Seal Beach Recreation. It since has been taken over entirely by the Seal Beach Swim Club.
The event originally hosted a 10 mile swim that started at the Huntington Beach Pier and finished at the Seal Beach Pier.
The Seal Beach Swim Club has been looking for the perpetual trophies from the Rough Water Swim. There were three 3-foot-tall wood trophies that had brass plates on all four sides with the first place finishers name engraved on it from the 10 mile, the 5K, and the 1 mile. These have been misplaced.
The trophies were last seen in a trophy case across from the City Clerk’s Office on the first floor at Seal Beach City Hall. If any member of the community knows where they are, let the Seal Beach Swim Club know. They would be showcased for the 50th Annual Rough Water Swim.
For more information about the event, visit www.sealbeachswimclub.org.
