Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.

The Traversée internationale du lac St-Jean is a world-renowned 32 km cross-lake professional marathon competition that has been conducted annually over the last 60 years.

The Traversée is a tough point-to-point crossing where the winds and cold can punish swimmers, especially as they race each other.

But on the Thursday before the Traversée, the organizing committee also hosts the FINA 10K Marathon Swimming World Cup in its protected finish harbor where the swimmers race in a rectangular course.

Photos above show the feeding pontoon and finish pontoon.

Copyright © 2014 by World Open Water Swimming Association