Are Open Water events more popular than Pool events?
Former Member
It’s undeniable that the popularity of open water swimming has risen dramatically in the last few years. But when looking for a LCM meet to swim in, I saw an interesting trend on the USMS Calendar.
www.usms.org/.../calendar.php
Here in the Colonies Zone, there are three pool meets listed (two were last weekend and the other is in October) and TEN open water events. In the Great Lakes Zone, there are ZERO pool meets (not counting LCM Nationals in Indy) and seven open water events. These kinds of numbers are similar in virtually all the Zones.
Has open water swimming officially passed pool swimming in popularity?
Has open water swimming officially passed pool swimming in popularity?
It might be in terms of number of events. I think the overlap with the tri community increases the attendance at OW events. Plus, OW events are much easier to incorporate into your life as they generally consume half a day at most versus a 2 or 3 day pool meet.
Also, take the USMS calendar with a grain of salt, though, as not all events (pool or otherwise) are always listed there.
Has open water swimming officially passed pool swimming in popularity?
It might be in terms of number of events. I think the overlap with the tri community increases the attendance at OW events. Plus, OW events are much easier to incorporate into your life as they generally consume half a day at most versus a 2 or 3 day pool meet.
Also, take the USMS calendar with a grain of salt, though, as not all events (pool or otherwise) are always listed there.
