Courtesy of Oliver Halder, International Winter Swimming Association, Petrozavodsk, Russia. The overall male and female age group winners of the most recent International Winter Swimming Association World Cup season were both Germans: Christof Wandratsch with 636 points in the 50-54 age group and Jaqueline Jänike with 630 points in the 55-59 age group. The pair […]

Unique Awards In The Open Water Swimming World, Part 17 Courtesy of WOWSA, Bermuda. The Bermuda Four Corners Challenge is a series of 4-mile swims in Bermuda that are held without safety boats, buoys or route markers in scenic, but less commonly swum, parts of Bermuda that was created by Mike Cash. The four courses

Courtesy of Shigemi Yoshimura. Shigemi Yoshimura created an English-language informational summary of the open water swims throughout Japan from Okinawa to the four main islands of Japan: Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. Copyright © 2019 by Shigemi Yoshimura

Courtesy of S.C.A.R. Swim Challenge, Saguaro Lake, Arizona. John Batchelder is well-known globally as a prolific marathon swimming butterflyer. But he shifted gears on his first marathon swim of 2019. The Colorado resident, escorted by Lynn Acton, writes, “I have another busy year planned [that started] today with the first leg of S.C.A.R. Swim Challenge.

Courtesy of S.C.A.R. Swim Challenge, Arizona. The 2019 S.C.A.R. Swim Challenge, one of the world’s most unique and unlikely marathon swim series, has started in the desert of the state of Arizona. 45 swimmers are competing in the 4-day, 4-stage 66.9 km lake stage swim that was first envisioned by Kent Nicholas who was training

Courtesy of Aleksandr Jakovlevs, International Winter Swimming Association, Jelgava, Latvia. Latvian Aleksandr Jakovlevs summed up the 2018 – 2019 International Winter Swimming Association season, “All the winter swimmers made this season unforgettable. 580 swimmers shared the experience of competing in 12 events including 4 stages of the IWSA World Cup over the season. The first

Courtesy of National Geographic. National Geographic Magazine announced its choices of the Top 10 beaches located within United States national parks: 1. Assateague Island National Seashore along the Atlantic Coast in the states of Maryland and Virginia: nearly 60 km of white sand coastline with consistent surf throughout the year and fairly warm water in

Courtesy of WOWSA, Laguna Beach, California. Ryan Ballance [standing on the right], a retired fireman and waterman originally from Long Beach, California saved another life in February. It was his second lifesaving rescue in less than a year – his first one was at Laguna Beach along the shoreline and latest safe was in the

Courtesy of Ron Collins, Tampa Bay, Florida. 53-year-old Jamie Proffitt of Bend, Oregon had previously won the 17.2 km Portland Bridge Swim down the Willamette River in downtown Portland on the West Coast in 2013. Six years later, he won the 38.6 km Tampa Bay Marathon Swim in Florida. Ron Collins had to unexpectedly change