Courtesy of Kate Radville, Charles River Swimming Club, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

We have traveled the world on business, occasionally visiting cities from San Francisco to San Antonio, from Chicago to Clearwater, and working out with masters swim teams.

Usually the fastest lanes comprise of former competitive swimmers, from Olympians to NCAA Division I athletes, swimming fast and working hard even in their 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. Most of the Lane 1 swimmers are, frankly, male with a few of the fastest women hanging on at the fastest intervals.

But we found the Cambridge Masters Swim Club in Cambridge, Massachusetts to be different. Instead of Lane 1 being male-dominated, the fastest swimmers were primarily female.

In the early morning workouts, in the mid-afternoon workouts, in the evening workouts, or on their weekend workouts, it is usually the women who get to the pool early, finish the entire main set, and stay until the end of practice.

So it makes sense that the local open water swim held in the middle of Harvard University in the Charles River was dominated by women.

Jessica Stokes won the overall title at the 2015 Charles River Swim with Alana Aubin and Katharine Dunn finishing second and third to complete a female sweep of the podium.

The Charles River Swim, organized by Kate Radville and the local Charles River Swimming Club, is a one-mile swim up and down the Charles River in June. Last year, it was similarly dominated by women.

2015 Top Ten Results:
1 Jessica Stokes (38 years) 26:33.7
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2 Alana Aubin (25) 26:59.9
3 Katharine Dunn (40) 27:16.1
4 Sean Carter (39) 27:38.4
5 Ryan Hobson (21) 28:48.7
6 Anna Gonzalo (41) 28:52.9
7 Amy Whitesides (42) 29:26.5
8 Liz Byron (31) 29:46.6
9 Tim Ming (31) 30:10.5
10 Tim Morse (66) 30:56.1

For more information on the 2016 Charles River Swim on June 11th, visit here.

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