FORT LAUDERDALE – The
International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) will recognize Richard Broer, for his
extensive contributions to the administration of open water swimming with the
2017 Irving Davids/Captain Roger W. Wheeler Memorial Award. The Award
will be presented to Richard, on Saturday evening, during the International Marathon
Swimming Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies, on April 22nd at “The Chapel”,
part of the Beaumont Estate in Old Windsor, England (close to Heathrow Airport).
The Irving Davids/Captain Roger W. Wheeler Memorial Award is presented annually
by International Swimming Hall of Fame to the organization or individual who
has contributed the most to the administration of open water swimming.
This year’s award honors Richard Broer who
played a major role in developing open water swimming for the last twenty years
including the role as Chairperson of the Technical Open Water Committee of Royal Netherlands Swimming Association. He is responsible for the yearly
open water publication with all (association) events nationally, an extensive
brochure on the ins and outs of open waters swimming nationally. Richard brought the sport in the
Netherlands to the web in 1998 with www.noww.nl which further
promotes the events and the sport in general.
One indicator of the success of open water (including marathon) swimming
in the Netherlands are the double Dutch marathon swimming gold medal winners in
Rio in 2016: Sharon Van Rouwendaal and Ferry Weertman.
His
other internet initiative www.openwaterswimming.eu is a website for the
European area. It concentrates on the event calendar for Europe. It is a proven
instrument in attracting vacationing swimmers to swims in their holiday
destination.
Broer also coaches: twenty IJsselmeer (13.5 mile/22 km swim) relay team over the
years and a solo winner of the event plus a 100% success record for seven English Channel (21 mile/35 km swim) relay
teams including two world speed records.
Richard is also an accomplished swimmer – continuing today: 1978 he won the Netherlands
national competition with a still unmatched time and raced 1500m in under 16
minutes. He completed several solo marathons including Gibraltar Straits (9
mile/14.4 km swim), Flanders Marathon twice (9.9 mile/16 km swim) and the IJsselmeer (13.5
mile/22 km swim) three times.
For
additional information, please call Ned Denison in Ireland at (+353) 87-987-1573
or ISHOF at (954) 462-6536, or visit http://www.ishof.org
About the ISHOF
The International Swimming Hall of Fame &
Museum was established in 1965 as a not-for-profit educational organization in
the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida and was recognized by FINA, the
international governing body for the Olympic aquatic sports, in 1968. The Mission
of ISHOF is to PRESERVE and CELEBRATE aquatic
history, to EDUCATE the general public about the importance of
swimming as the key to water safety, drowning prevention, better health and a
better quality of life, and to INSPIRE everyone to swim.
ISHOF’s collection of swimming memorabilia, art, photos and films, along with
archival documents and rare books in the Henning Library, make ISHOF the
premier repository and academic research resource for swimming and aquatic
history in the world. www.ishof.org
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