Courtesy of Bob Placak, Raccoon Strait, San Francisco Bay, California.
The unique aspect of the RCP Tiburon Mile is the head-to-head competition between top pool swimmers and top open water swimmers.
While the open water swimmers come down in distance (from 5 km, 10 km and 25 km), the pool swimmers go up in distance to 1 nautical mile (1852 meters) in an unpredictable body of water across the Raccoon Strait with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background.
In the 17th annual event on August 19th, race director Bob Placak announced the participation of the following fast swimmers:
* Ferry Weertman, 2016 Olympic 10 km gold medalist from the Netherlands
* Ranomi Kromowidjojo, 2016 Olympic 400m freestyle relay gold medalist from the Netherlands
* Zane Grothe, 500-yard and 1650-yard freestyle American record holder
* Ashley Twitchell, 3-time RCP Tiburon Mile winner and 3-time FINA World Championship medalist
* Rachele Bruni, 2016 Olympic 10 km silver medalist from Italy
* Ricardo Vargas, Mexican 5 km national record holder
* David Heron, 3-time USA Swimming national 5 km champion
The entire Italian national open water team will also participate as will upwards to 800 participants who will enjoy a post-race music and food festival.
“There is so much uncertainty when the elite swimmers from the pool swimming community and their counterparts from the open water swimming community get together for a face-off in the Tiburon Mile,” observed Steven Munatones who has seen several close finishes over the years. “What line to take? Should I swing wide left or wide right? Who to draft off of? Whether or not to take the lead or not? But then the gun goes off and the best always go for it and swim out of their minds. It is a great race to participate in and to watch.”
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