LD16 303.6.3 SWIMWEAR p. 62 OWLDC Modify
303.6.3 Wetsuits may be allowed in all USMS-sanctioned open water events, at the
discretion of the meet event director. Wetsuits generally provide a competitive advantage. If
awards are given to wetsuit competitors they shall be awarded separately from those for nonwetsuit
competitors. Any published results or records must clearly indicate which swimmers
wore wetsuits.
Rationale 1: Because the OWLDC is aware that people wearing wetsuits are no longer allowed to be treated as
non-participants because they represent a major area of growth to our organization. In most cases, these
neoprene-clad souls would trade their eye teeth to go without but for whatever reasons they chose to look like
shark bait, they want/need/can’t live without it so by allowing this new rule, they can now wear their wetsuit in
our USMS races and get a prize from USMS. Also, members of the OWLDC are getting tired of extracting
naked, frozen people from the bathrooms where they are attempting to warm up by splashing themselves with
lukewarm water from the sink and recognize that if these folks had been offered an opportunity to wear a
wetsuit in their race, they would be having a much more fun time at this USMS event than experiencing
hypothermia and swearing on their mother’s grave to never swim in an open water race again.
Rationale2: This rule is leading our organization down the slippery slope to The Sanitization of Open Water
Swimming. We have regulated water temp, hot hats, buoys every so often, swim suits that help us float, and
more devices to take the element of nature out of the events, sort of like rock climbing with an elevator, so are
we “purists” now viewed as the extremists in our sport, the on the fringe element? But on the other hand at
least people are swimming and staying healthy, which is a wonderful thing for our society.
Rationale3: As purists spend time acclimating to less warm water temps and not spending time cycling 140
miles or running 26 at a stretch, do we get a motor on our bike? How about we start a “Buffet Event”, similar to
the 300IM: Pick a few choices you want and we’ll all compete together. This could lead to the “All Gadget
Olympics.”
Sure, providing organized OW practices is a nice thing to do. But the local Richmond triathletes do significantly more OW training than I do, with organized river swims every two weeks (I trained exactly once in the river this summer, though I swam in 3 OW races).
Yet they still prefer wear their wetsuits in OW races. Why wouldn't they? That's how they race in triathlons, after all. Sure some of them are weak swimmers but most would do just fine without wetsuits, they just prefer to wear them and don't really care what any OW purist thinks about it.
Do most OW swimmers do organized in water swims? I'm not an expert, but the OW swimmers and tris on my team don't seem to. Hmmm ... and, I seem to recall, one of the last winners of the Reston Lake Swim (2007?) was who? An ultra elite breaststroker ... And 2d place was ... a 400 IM All American ... no water time.
Tris don't give a toss about what purists think. And why should they?
As I said before, making wetsuit swimmers "ineligible" for awards just puts them in lower class stature. Why exactly do we need to do that? And doesn't allowing awards for a wetsuit division at Nats probably increase participation? If there are two separate divisions, why is that a problem exactly? 100 swimmers ... 50 per race .. big deal? ... Or more in the wetsuit division? ... No big deal ... purists have their unsullied victory ...
Sure, providing organized OW practices is a nice thing to do. But the local Richmond triathletes do significantly more OW training than I do, with organized river swims every two weeks (I trained exactly once in the river this summer, though I swam in 3 OW races).
Yet they still prefer wear their wetsuits in OW races. Why wouldn't they? That's how they race in triathlons, after all. Sure some of them are weak swimmers but most would do just fine without wetsuits, they just prefer to wear them and don't really care what any OW purist thinks about it.
Do most OW swimmers do organized in water swims? I'm not an expert, but the OW swimmers and tris on my team don't seem to. Hmmm ... and, I seem to recall, one of the last winners of the Reston Lake Swim (2007?) was who? An ultra elite breaststroker ... And 2d place was ... a 400 IM All American ... no water time.
Tris don't give a toss about what purists think. And why should they?
As I said before, making wetsuit swimmers "ineligible" for awards just puts them in lower class stature. Why exactly do we need to do that? And doesn't allowing awards for a wetsuit division at Nats probably increase participation? If there are two separate divisions, why is that a problem exactly? 100 swimmers ... 50 per race .. big deal? ... Or more in the wetsuit division? ... No big deal ... purists have their unsullied victory ...
