Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.

There is arguably no event on the global open water swimming calendar that attracts so many Olympic medalists, world champions, national qualifiers, NCAA champions, marathon swimmers, channel swimmers, and record holders at the local, regional, national and international level as the annual Trans Tahoe Relay.

The 10-mile event is held today with different start waves due to the number of competitors, a total of 1,410 swimmers.

There are 55 six-member teams in Wave 1 (Elite and Open), 66 teams in Wave 2 (Men 114+, Women 114+, Mixed 114+, Men 180+, Women 180+, and
Mixed 180+), 60 teams in Wave 3 (Men 240+, Women 240+ and Mixed 240+), and 54 teams in Wave 4 (Men 300+, Women 300+, Mixed 300+, Men 360+, Women 360+, Mixed 300+, and Just for Fun) for a total of 235 teams in the high-altitude race (6,200 feet or 1,890 meters) up in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

For more information, visit here.

Photo courtesy of Tim whose report of the 2010 Trans Tahoe Relay is here.

Copyright © 2015 by World Open Water Swimming Association