May/June cover of USMS Swimmer

SCY, OK I grant you that triathlons are more photogenic. You get to see the competitors' faces, you get to see the changing course, etc. Soo...how about we wise up to what has made swimming popular in Australia and get a lot more serious about open water events? Changing scenery, check. See the competitors' faces, not so much, but over the course of a race lasting an hour or two you are more likely to see people surge, tail off, i.e. distinguish themselves in a more visible way that an 0.3 difference in split time for a 100 in the middle of the race. I think we are in agreement that one race with everyone more or less competing at the same time that starts and finishes, and that's it, is much more compelling than watching 6 or 7 heats of the same 5-10 minute swim and then tabulate the results, and voila, a timing system tells us who won. However, we are chewing on the end of a bone we have already picked over in these discussion fora. We're still thinking too small, like people who are into competition and think that the key to popularity is a better race that more people will want to watch, and maybe try themselves. Bigger thinking, please. Lainey, what draws you and your friends to the pool? I think maybe before we offer up suggestions from the "fitness" swimmers, us neanderthal competitive types might need to be educated why you want to swim laps, etc., when you have no intention competing in a race. Your suggestions sound to us like they are coming from left field, but perhaps we don't understand that from your point of view, you're hanging out in a garden. Put it another way, we competitive swimmers are answering the question "what is art" like we're asking Michael Phelps. What does Pablo Picasso think? I'll tell you one thing that jazzes me. Teaching new swimmers that they can learn how to swim fly without rupturing themselves. I think that is maybe why I like that stroke. Regardless of time or whether you finish first or last, just completing a fly race is SOOO satisfying. Matt

SCY, OK I grant you that triathlons are more photogenic. You get to see the competitors' faces, you get to see the changing course, etc. Soo...how about we wise up to what has made swimming popular in Australia and get a lot more serious about open water events? Changing scenery, check. See the competitors' faces, not so much, but over the course of a race lasting an hour or two you are more likely to see people surge, tail off, i.e. distinguish themselves in a more visible way that an 0.3 difference in split time for a 100 in the middle of the race. I think we are in agreement that one race with everyone more or less competing at the same time that starts and finishes, and that's it, is much more compelling than watching 6 or 7 heats of the same 5-10 minute swim and then tabulate the results, and voila, a timing system tells us who won. However, we are chewing on the end of a bone we have already picked over in these discussion fora. We're still thinking too small, like people who are into competition and think that the key to popularity is a better race that more people will want to watch, and maybe try themselves. Bigger thinking, please. Lainey, what draws you and your friends to the pool? I think maybe before we offer up suggestions from the "fitness" swimmers, us neanderthal competitive types might need to be educated why you want to swim laps, etc., when you have no intention competing in a race. Your suggestions sound to us like they are coming from left field, but perhaps we don't understand that from your point of view, you're hanging out in a garden. Put it another way, we competitive swimmers are answering the question "what is art" like we're asking Michael Phelps. What does Pablo Picasso think? I'll tell you one thing that jazzes me. Teaching new swimmers that they can learn how to swim fly without rupturing themselves. I think that is maybe why I like that stroke. Regardless of time or whether you finish first or last, just completing a fly race is SOOO satisfying. Matt