The World Open Water Swimming Association announced its 45 nominees for the 2012
World Open Water Swimming Man of the Year, the World Open Water Swimming Woman of the Year, and the World Open Water Swimming Performance of the Year this week.
Due to the explosive growth of the sport, from ice swims to ultra-marathon swims, there has also be a concurrent growth in the products, service offerings, vacations, technical devices and gadgets, coaching experts, equipment and content provided to the emerging open water swimming market.
From Argentina to Australia, from Great Britain to Guam, from Netherlands to New Zealand, open water swimmers can now go to their local retail stores or shop online to find various products and services geared to their needs. They can find coaches on Facebook and they can contract with an escort pilot via email. It is easy to imagine these myriad offerings only getting more numerous, more sophisticated and more relevant over time.
As such, the World Open Water Swimming Association is adding a new category to its annual awards that reflects this growth and appreciation for these offerings: the World Open Water Swimming Offering of the Year.
The World Open Water Swimming Offering of the Year award is meant to identify products or services that (1) best support and assist open water swimmers achieve their goals, (2) are innovative, unique and beneficial to open water swimmers, race directors, coaches or administrators, and (3) have made the most positive impact on the world of open water swimming during a calendar year.
The nominations are meant to recognize and honor some of the best products and services that the global open water swimming world has seen. Extreme swimmers, disabled swimmers, ice swimmers, marathon swimmers, professional swimmers, administrators, coaches, pilots, and swimmers from all walks of life have used,thoroughly impressed their peers, the public and the media with their open water purchased and benefited from an increasingly number of products and services throughout 2012.
The 2012 nominees are (listed in alphabetical order of their first name):
1. Alina Warren (Scotland), Swimming Great Glen Way
2. Brenton Williams (South Africa), Deep Blue Flying
3. Dan Projansky (USA), Flying Down The Red River
4. Dutch Ladies First (Netherlands), English Channel Relay Record
5. Frank Flowers (Cayman Islands), Blossoming In The Cayman Islands
6. Haley Anderson (USA), Silver Lining At the Olympics
7. James Pittar (Australia), Shelley Beach Swim
8. Juan Ignacio Martínez Fernández-Villamil (Spain), The Heart of Navia
9. Lexie Kelly (USA), Open Water Swimming Archivist
10. Night Train Swimmers (USA/New Zealand), SF to SB Relay
11. Penny Palfrey (Australia), Marathon Adventurer
12. Philippe Coizon (France), Bering Strait Crossing
13. Saint Martin Island Long Distance Channel Swimming in Bangladesh
14. Stephen Redmond (Ireland), Tsugaru Channel Crossing
15. Trent Grimsey (Australia), English Channel Record
Online voting will take place here at WOWSA between November 1st and December 31st.
Photo above shows Phil Cutti battling the elements en route to the Farallon Islands.
Copyright © 2012 by Open Water Source