Short Course Meters
At Mona Plummer pool ASU
Just finalized the dates...working on adding in a few twists like a 4k, a coaches challenge, etc.
Also, looking into negotiating some things like discounted golf, zoo tickets, etc. for folks that may be bringing along family that would prefer not to hang out at a pool all weekend.
Maybe you could suggest the meet be 11/14 and 11/15 with the open water 11/16. Nothing quite like trying to do nine events with a 4k in the middle of it. I would personally rather do the 4k after the meet--in case anybody's asking. Although DCB is putting on a 2.4 mile 2 weeks before IM Arizona (11/9)--not sure why they are not doing it on 11/16. Either way tempe town lake will be chilly that time of year--will there be a non-wetsuit division for those with cryptochordism? I've always preferred October for the SDM meet and open water races as the water and weather is nicer.
Maybe you could suggest the meet be 11/14 and 11/15 with the open water 11/16. Nothing quite like trying to do nine events with a 4k in the middle of it. I would personally rather do the 4k after the meet--in case anybody's asking. Although DCB is putting on a 2.4 mile 2 weeks before IM Arizona (11/9)--not sure why they are not doing it on 11/16. Either way tempe town lake will be chilly that time of year--will there be a non-wetsuit division for those with cryptochordism? I've always preferred October for the SDM meet and open water races as the water and weather is nicer.
Kurt...you can now spread your misery over 3 full days! The 800/1500 are Friday (6pm start), the 4k will be the first event Saturday morning, then you can "warm down" with the 400 free Sunday morning!
As for the Tempe Lake swim hosted by Tribe/Mark Gill on the 9th, that was set up early on to allow the people entered in the Arizona Ironman a swim a few weeks before the "main event".
People swim in Tempe town lake?
Yup, and live to tell about it.
That said, the water at Lake Pleasant is much better and a more natural (for AZ) location for an open water swim. The 2k we had there in June went well, the location was perfect, the water temp was 74F, and the swimmers all had a good time.
Saguaro Lake is good too, although they get a lot more boat traffic in the area where the swim leg will be. The whole area between Boat Ramp #2 and Butcher Jones is a madhouse most of the time.
Tempe Town Lake does have the virtue of being in downtown Tempe. This makes it easy to get to and from the airport and is smack dab in the middle of it all. At the end of the year, the light rail system will have a top by Town Lake.
The water is...murky, yet safe to swim in. The City of Tempe tests it all the time to make sure it is OK to swim in. There are a bunch of triathlons that take place at Town Lake in addition to the open water swims. My guess is that you will leave the water with the same number of appendages that you started with.
See you in November?
How deep is Town lake, about 3 feet?
Average depth around 13 feet with a max depth of 19 feet. It's a great place to do a controlled open water swim; they run an Ironman event out of there, various 'splash & dashes' and some open water swims. Even if you don't choose to do any open water, come for the Ron Johnson meet. ASU's got a great pool and it's generally got good competition at this across the age groups -- a testament to how powerful the Arizona LMSC is :) combined with generally strong representation from some Colorado and SoCal teams.
How deep is Town lake, about 3 feet? When I went to ASU, the Salt river was a great expanse of sand and rocks and Scottsdale Rd. did not have any reason to worry about water, even having been built right on the riverbed. I may try to make this meet. The drive will do me some good.
any chance we'll get any o/w swim options in either of these lakes next spring?
The chances are very high of a four-event Arizona Open Water Series in 2009. Mark Gill and David Benjes (DCB Adventures) are working on this to get USMS-sanctioned waves, which should be completed shortly. There was a strong OW series back when Mark lived in AZ and we are working to revive (and sustain!) it.
The plan is to have two events in the spring and two in the fall. This would book-end the normal open water season nicely. The hope is to draw both AZ swimmers and out of towners to these events and have a nice, long open water season.
Stay tuned...
