The Swift Current Barracudas Swim Club was taking on a new challenge Sunday morning, as they hosted their first ever open-water swim meet.

The inaugural South Saskatchewan Open Water Classic was held at Sask Landing Provincial Park and hosted a combined 32 swimmers - including the masters division - from Swift, Saskatoon, Prince Albert, Regina, and North Battleford.

There were both 1500m and 3000m races.

The track saw three buoys anchored in a triangle in the middle of the South Saskatchewan River at Cottonwood Beach allowing for three 500m sections, or a 1.5km lap.

Barracudas swim club members at the meet consisted of - from L to R: Luke Regier, Evan Ewert, Seth Unger, Griffin Duncalfe, Elliot Duncalfe, Reid Ewert, and Coach Gary Cheung (Photo courtesy of Gary Cheung)

Six Barracudas swimmers were among those in the inaugural event - several medals were racked up.

Griffin Duncalfe placed first in the 12-14 Boys category of the 1500m, followed closely by teammates Reid Ewart (2nd), and Evan Ewert (3rd). Seth Unger and Luke Regier also competed in the race.

The lone Barracuda to tackle the two-lap 3000m race was Elliot Duncalfe who, as the lone competitor in her age group, snagged the Gold in the 12-14 Girls division.

The event proved to be a much different atmosphere than that of the standard Olympic-sized swimming pool the Barracudas were used to, according to Griffin Duncalfe.

“The last 500 was tough because the waves kept going over top of me. But the second 500 was alright because the waves were pushing me down... but I couldn’t really see the buoy," he said. "So that was tough, I didn’t really know where I was going."

Nonetheless it allowed for the swimmers to shoot for different goals and strategies than normal.

"I just wanted to have fun I guess," Duncalfe said. "I wanted to finish, so I went loose the first kilometer and then I gave it everything I had my last 500."

Moving forward, Duncalfe said he could see himself continuing with open-water meets

"It was fun, I liked it - yeah I would like to," he said. "Probably not like 3K’s because that’s tough. 1500s I like - they’re fun I guess."