Correspondent Claudia Rose, a pioneering swimmer, reports in from Alaska: Alaska is seeing an increase in open water swimmers with locals from Juneau, Fairbanks and Anchorage participating in three open water events: the Chena Lake Splash, the Sitka Sound Ocean Adventure Swim and the Pennock Island Challenge. The 8.2-mile (13.1K) Pennock Island Challenge is the […]

Mark Robson reported the British Long Distance Swimming Association one-way Windermere swim results from this past weekend. The 10.5-mile swim is the long-time standard on the British Long Distance Swimming Association calendar and training ground for many English Channel aspirants. The men’s official results: 1. William Bott (Sandwell) 4.03.522. Chris Malpass (City of Chester) 4.18.303.

Mike Gustafson of SwimNetwork gave ten reasons why he thinks open water swimming rocks. His insightful and entertaining article on SwimNetwork – which will broadcast the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim World Record Attempt next week – is here. To quote Mike, 1) You have to know your opponent. 2) To be good at open water,

Courtesy WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California. Race day. Pre-race day. Post-race day. The pressures and details placed upon open water swimming race directors – a vast majority who are good-natured volunteers – is tremendous. Buoys, food, entries, safety boats, bad weather, injuries, complaints, missed registration, newcomers, course questions, course layout, finish structure, volunteer recruitment, mass starts,

Shark, Portuguese man-o-war, swells, ongoing currents and rough water conditions … exactly the conditions that Captain and the Australian Tattersalls team wanted for the 28th annual 9.6-mile Maui Channel Swim. From Down Under, the Aussies went up and above the surface chop and waves to come out on top for the fourth consecutive year over

When Alexander Chantler touched the French shore in the dark at 2:35 am yesterday, the BEST (Bristol English Channel Swim Team) not only completed their English Channel relay in 13 hours and 25 minutes, an excellent time, but they also became the youngest group of athletes in history to do so. After a responsible selection

For those familiar with the California coast, the course map overlaid on Google Earth for the Ventura Deep Six Relay team’s world record attempt is mighty impressive. Staring out to the Pacific Ocean from any point along the coast and imaging a 3-day non-stop relay across the huge expanse of cold ocean water is mind-boggling.

As the number of swimmers increases in the world of open water swimming, especially in marathon swimming, we are always reminded how risky and dangerous the sport can be – and how wonderfully valuable is a competent support team. Marathon swimmers can never be too safe. English Channel, Manhattan Island Marathon Swim and Tampa Bay