670 contestants participated in today's Big Shoulders 2.5K and 5k Open Water Long Distance Swim Classic in Lake Michigan. Water temperature was a balmy 72 degrees. Sunny skies produced air temperatures in the mid-seventies.
As usual, Chicago Masters did a super job of organizing this event. Results were available very promptly at the conclusion - love that electronic timing! If past performance is any guide, they'll be posting the results for your viewing pleasure at www.bigshoulders.org in a very timely fashion.
This is a challenging and fun event and worth of consideration by any serious OW swimmer even when it isn't the national championship.
Thank you Chicago Masters for a job well done!
I swam it again this year and did really well. Sixth overall in the 5K! A great event as usual. Not real crazy about the t-shirt design, but they can't hit a home run every year :)
The only negative was waiting for the awards. I thought it was possible I got top three, so stuck around. I finished the swim at just after 9:00, but they didn't do awards until close to 11:00. Maybe it's poor form to give out awards while the race is still going on, but let's be honest here, if they're only giving awards to the top three overall they don't need to wait until every last person is out of the water. Those last finishers aren't really in the hunt.
I swam it again this year and did really well. Sixth overall in the 5K! A great event as usual. Not real crazy about the t-shirt design, but they can't hit a home run every year :)
The only negative was waiting for the awards. I thought it was possible I got top three, so stuck around. I finished the swim at just after 9:00, but they didn't do awards until close to 11:00. Maybe it's poor form to give out awards while the race is still going on, but let's be honest here, if they're only giving awards to the top three overall they don't need to wait until every last person is out of the water. Those last finishers aren't really in the hunt.
