From glassy flat to rougher and roughest, from one lake to another, those were the conditions that the athletes found at the 2011 Tex Robertson Highland Lakes Challenge between October 19th and 23rd. The five-lake, five-stage event is unique and, like the individual medley races in the pool, can see a lot of changes from Lake Buchanan to Inks Lake to Lake LBJ to Lake Marble Falls, and finally to Lake Travis.
The finish was on Sunday in the choppy waters in the main basin of Lake Travis. Held in the beautiful hill country just west of Austin, Texas, the demands and challenges on the swimmer varied each day with various distances on each day. The boutique event attracts swimmers from Texas, Arizona, California, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Delhi (India).
16-year-old Kara Treacy from Corpus Christi, Texas won the 3-day Weekend Warrior division. Covering 8.25 miles over 3 lakes, Kara was joined on the top of the podium with Dr. Keith Bell who won the premier 5-day, 15.5-mile (25K) Monster Challenge.
The event is named after Tex Robertson, a former University of Texas head men’s swimming and diving coach and 2003 International Swimming Hall of Fame inductee Tex was a tireless supporter and promoter of the sport who was credited with inventing the flip turn.
In his thirteen years as coach of the University of Texas Longhorns, Tex won 13 Conference Championships. He founded Camp Longhorn in 1939 which used the same venue as the second stage of the Tex Robertson Highland Lakes Challenge.
Top Finishers in the 5-day 5-lake Monster Challenge
6:52:51 — Keith Bell (63)
7:03:11 — Bob Button (52)
7:43:58 — Sandy Mitchel (52)
8:25:58 — Nelson Chafetz (51)
10:40:10 — Bill Dailey (49)
Top Finishers in the 3-day 3-lake Weekend Warrior
3:09:24 — Kara Treacy (16)
3:26:54 — Robert Alford (48)
3:52:42 — Ali Hall (50)
Photos compliments of American Swimming Association.
Copyright © 2011 by Open Water Source