Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.
Similar to the friendly competitive spirit between Olympic heroes Duke Kahanamoku and Johnny Weissmuller, athletes from all over the world will gather at the base of Diamond Head volcano to race to the other side of Waikiki Bay at the 42nd annual Waikiki Roughwater Swim. Since 1970, many of the world’s top swimmers have gathered under the swaying coconut trees of San Souci Beach smiling, laughing and enjoying themselves in the tropical splendor before the start. But when the gun goes off, the race is on.
The 2.384-mile (3.84K) race – inspiration to the Hawaiian Ironman swim leg – takes place on September 5th, appropriately finishing at Duke Kahanamoku Beach at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Hotel.
The iconic race is held in conjunction with Swim with Mike, a scholarship fund providing financial means for advanced education to physically challenged athletes.
Group A hits the water first…and fastest. The field includes the top 100 finishers from the 2010 race, all prior overall and divisional first place finishers, and current NCAA and high school All-Americans. The rest of the field is set off in different groups at five-minute intervals with a cut-off time of 2 hours and 40 minutes.
Group A will be undoubtedly swimming in the wake of world-class swimmers like former world 10K champion Chip Peterson of North Carolina and RCP Tiburon Mile winner Kane Radford of New Zealand, FINIS’ star swimmer Luane Rowe of Australia and the first open water swimmer to be inducted into the International Masters Swimming Hall of Fame Suzanne Heim-Bowen.
The field will always be highlighted by local masters hero and two-time champion Joe Lileikis who is recovering from cancer and chemotherapy treatment earlier this year.
Live streaming of the competition is courtesy of liveswim.com that will be shown live on the Waikiki Roughwater Swim website.
The swim will also offer two free online webinars for open water swimming officials and athletes on Sunday, September 4th.
The first webinar (Session #1 is targeted for race officials, administrators and volunteers. In this free hour-long webinar, Open Water Swimming author Steven Munatones will discuss the rules, regulations, procedures and policies of fairly officiating and safely administering major open water swimming competitions.
The webinar on Sunday, September 4th from 10 am Hawaii time (4 pm New York time) will outline the following:
• History of the Sport
• State of the Sport
• Traditions of the Sport
• Rules of the Sport
• Officiating Basics – Positioning, Posture & Equipment
• Officiating Subtleties – Swimmer’s Tactics & Official’s Limitations
• Officiating Documents
• Learning More
The second webinar (Session #2 will be held at 4 pm Hawaii time (10 pm New York time) on Sunday, September 4th and will cover how athletes can dramatically improve and prepare for any open water swimming competition or solo swim.
Join Steven as he shares his insights and expertise will discuss the Pyramid for Open Water Success. The webinar will outline each step of the Pyramid:
• Base training
• Speed training
• Distance tolerance
• Race specific training
• Skills training
• Open water acclimatization
• Tactical knowledge
Copyright © 2011 by World Open Water Swimming Association