David Quartermain, a Manchester, England-based coach, will offer open water swimming sessions (USwim) throughout the summer months in Salford and Boundary Park. The weekly sessions will be held at Dock9, Salford Quays, next to the new Media City development and at Boundary Water Park.

Amazingly enough, according to a recent survey by Sport England, swimming remains England’s most popular sports to take part in with 7.63% of the English population or 3,2 million people, regularly getting in the pool (i.e., swimming for 30 minutes or more at least once per week).

USwim‘s David said, “We are excited to bring this new recreational facility to the region. Dock9 is a superb venue having hosted the Salford ITU and the 2002 Commonwealth Games Triathlons. My ambition was to create a new facility for swimmers at Salford Quays right in the heart of the new waterside community being generated by the Media City development.”

David is gaining the help of someone who knows: Olympic silver medalist and 10K world champion Keri-Anne Payne (shown above) who lives in the area.

USwim sessions start May 1st. In a growing service that has taken root in various locations around the world, David intends to offer GPS tracking to measure each swimmers progress.

Photo of Keri-Anne Payne by Frogfish Photography.

Copyright © 2010 by Steven Munatones