Tucson, AZ, (December 4, 2008) -- Arizona will host a series of five Open Water swimming competitions in 2009 on May 2 at Saguaro Lake, June 6 at Lake Pleasant, September 19 at Saguaro Lake, October 17 at Lake Pleasant and November 15 at Tempe Town Lake, announced June Hussey, Communications and Open Water Chairperson for Arizona Masters. All events will have 2k and 4k distances available.
These events will be run by DCB Extreme Adventures with open water veteran Mark Gill serving as Race Director. All events will be officially sanctioned and open to both registered Age Group and Masters swimmers.
“Open water enthusiasts are very excited that DCB Extreme Adventures has put together this series for us close to home in 2009,” Hussey said. “Most open water competitions require out-of-state travel during the height of the summer, when lakes and oceans around the U.S. are their warmest. Thanks to our beautiful weather here in Arizona and the event organizers, Arizona can extend the normal open water season by offering swimmers these five shoulder-season events.
Other possible 2009 open water events, now in the planning stages by other event organizers, include one in Flagstaff and one south of the border in Rocky Point.
According to Hussey, the 2009 events should provide a boost to Arizona’s tourism economy by attracting swim travelers from throughout the U.S. For more info, contact david@dcbadventures.com.
###
So what the rules with regards to wet suit usage in these events?
I doubt you'll need a wetsuit except for (possibly) the May and (most likely) the November swims. By June, the water temps should already be warm and they should still stay warm through October. I even swam an open water event in early November with water temps at 72 that, while I think officially could qualify for wetsuit according to USMS rules, was fine with just a regular swim suit.
All of these lakes reference in June's post are in the greater Phoenix area, which means that air temps are already hitting 90s in May. If they have one up at Flagstaff (which I hope they do), though, depending upon the time of year, we might want to consider wetsuits. Flag would be challenging both for being colder and being at 6K or so foot altitude.
I've not swum o/w in either Saguaro or Pleasant, but these are beautiful locales, so I think they'll be a lot of fun.
Pleasant (Northwest valley) and Saguaro (southeast valley) are both nice. Between May and October it is too hot for a wetsuit. The 05 (or was it 04?) series had both divisions however (all of the good swimmers were wetsuit-free at that time). Flagstaff is not as good as you might think (Lake Mary is very murky and you can't see hands in front of your face--although it would be good to get out of the heat).:)
So what the rules with regards to wet suit usage in these events?
These are non-championship events so you can swim with a wetsuit. However, for the three lakes in this series, you probably won't need one. At Lake Pleasant last year, the water temp was 74F during the first week of June. The water was very clear and clean too.
The only one you *might* need a wetsuit is Saguaro Lake in May. It may be a little nippy (low 70's) but a lot will depend upon the weather. If we have a warm spring the water temps will be nice from the start.
FYI, all of these events are listed on the USMS website and have sanction numbers. The online event entry for each one will be available shortly. See you there, this is going to be a fun series!
The first event at Saguaro Lake was a great success, 166 swimmers in all. This made it the second-largest masters swimming event in the state for the year. The upcoming ones should be even larger.
Many thanks to June Hussey, David Benjes, and Dr. Mark Gill for putting this series together!
We just had the 3rd open water event of the season at Saguaro Lake just outside of Mesa, AZ. There were 220 swimmers total between the 2k and 4k events. The water was 76F and the weather was warm and sunny. It was a great event and everybody had a good time.
There are two more events this fall, one on October 17th at Lake Pleasant which is north of Phoenix about a half hour. The other one will be on November 8th at Town Lake which is in downtown Tempe.
So if your open water season is winding down, come on over to AZ for some freshwater swimming. We have lots of sunshine to go around and we have plenty of room for more athletes at these events!
See you there...
