Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.
Embrace The Challenge: Erie Crossing is a 20 km cross border swim for solo swimmers and relays across Lake Erie between Canada and the USA.
Organized as a joint venture between Embrace Open Water Swimming and North Shore Swimmers and run by Miguel Vadillo [shown above] and Joshua Reid, the 12.4-mile Embrace the Challenge requires athletes to traverse between Eastern Lake Erie from Sturgeon Point, New York (USA) to Crystal Beach, Ontario (Canada). Sanctioned by the Great Lakes Crossing Organization, it is part of the Global Swim Series.
Relays require four swimmers minimum and a maximum of six. Each participant must swim at least once for a 30-minute period in either category:
• Naked Relay: All swimmers who do not use wetsuits. Swimmers make exchanges with the next swimmer every 30 minutes that is signaled by a siren from the zodiac boats. After every swimmer has completed 30 minutes in the water, the order of the swimmers can change at the discretion of the team.
• Wetsuit Relay: At least one (but possibly all) swimmers use a wetsuit. Swimmers make exchanges with the next swimmer every 30 minutes that is signaled by a siren from the zodiac boats. After every swimmer has completed 30 minutes in the water, the order of the swimmers can change at the discretion of the team. But, there are no GSS points given to swimmers who participate in a relay.
In the solo swimmer categories, there are two different categories:
• Naked Solo Crossing: swimmers who use standard swimwear, have no physical contact with support crew or crafts, and will utilize no assistive or pacing tools. Swimmers will receive an Official Lake Erie Crosser certificates from the Great Lakes Crossing Organization and will have their swims sanctioned as official Great Lakes Solo Swims. GSS points will be assigned to finishers in this category.
• Wetsuit Solo Crossing: swimmers who use a wetsuit or assistive tools (solo swim bag, pacing tools, etc.) will not be recognized as an official solo crosser.
The solo categories will be further divided by gender, but the relays will have Male, Female, and Mixed divisions.
For more information about the event, visit here.
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