Idea: North American V. Europe MASTERS dual in the pool in Reykjavik, Iceland
When I visited Iceland in the summer of 2012 I swam at the Laugardalslaug pool and marveled at how a city of 200,000 had such a nice aquatic complex and overall swimming culture of the locals. They even had a strong open water community. I started thinking this would be a good place for a masters meet, the idea kinda died until I watched the dual in the pool yesterday and thought why not do this masters style in Reykjavik. Thoughts from organizer promoter types out there?
- Dual meet style, maybe over a long weekend Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
- The Laugardalslaug aquatic center in Rekykjavik has two 50-meter pools.
- Icelandair provides a free lay over up to one week in Iceland before heading on to cities in Europe etc.,
- The are even area's for open water swimming, really.
- North America team would include Mexico and Canada.
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Things to do in Iceland
- A natural wonder
- Volcanoes
- Waterfalls
- Thermals
- Whale watching
- Dining and shopping in Reykjavik
- Open water swimming at Nauthólsvík Beach
www.icelandair.us/.../
Note I'm not a paid agent of Iceland, just enjoyed my visit ;-)
Hi Ken,
What a wonderful idea! So inspirational. I have been organizing an international swimming competition called the EU Swim (www.euswim.org) for the past 8 years. It was actually featured in Swimmer Magazine in January 2011: www.euswim.org/.../swimmer_mag_article_2011.pdf.
I first started the competition in Paris in 2006 (I studied there for 3 years) and the idea was to bring together swimmers of all ages and levels to meet, compete and share their interests. Since Paris, I've worked with a host club in a different country each year, most recently in Tallinn, Estonia with 430 swimmers participating from 10 countries. We've seen swimmers of all ages, including quite a few Masters swimmers! We operate on the same first-come, first-served idea that you have proposed.
For your idea, you could look to work with a masters team (or maybe even several teams) in the Reykjavik area, as well as the Icelandic Swimming Association. They could do the groundwork in terms of organization and logistics and also find sponsors. On the US side, you could work with USMS in terms of getting sponsorships, promotions and stir up interest.
I'd be more than happy to promote the competition through the EU Swim site. We have a newsletter that goes out to readers in about 30 countries, which provides a great forum for getting ideas across. And if you need anything else, or want to exchange some ideas, just let me know!
Hi Ken,
What a wonderful idea! So inspirational. I have been organizing an international swimming competition called the EU Swim (www.euswim.org) for the past 8 years. It was actually featured in Swimmer Magazine in January 2011: www.euswim.org/.../swimmer_mag_article_2011.pdf.
I first started the competition in Paris in 2006 (I studied there for 3 years) and the idea was to bring together swimmers of all ages and levels to meet, compete and share their interests. Since Paris, I've worked with a host club in a different country each year, most recently in Tallinn, Estonia with 430 swimmers participating from 10 countries. We've seen swimmers of all ages, including quite a few Masters swimmers! We operate on the same first-come, first-served idea that you have proposed.
For your idea, you could look to work with a masters team (or maybe even several teams) in the Reykjavik area, as well as the Icelandic Swimming Association. They could do the groundwork in terms of organization and logistics and also find sponsors. On the US side, you could work with USMS in terms of getting sponsorships, promotions and stir up interest.
I'd be more than happy to promote the competition through the EU Swim site. We have a newsletter that goes out to readers in about 30 countries, which provides a great forum for getting ideas across. And if you need anything else, or want to exchange some ideas, just let me know!
