World's Top 100 Open Water Swims

Great. 1 down and 99 to go.

Thanks. I always like to pick one new OW event a year to swim and this will be a great reference guide. Wish I had a bigger travel expense account......donations anyone? :angel:LOL

I started with lucky #13; the 5k Bonaire EcoSwim. Next up is Hurricane Man 2.4m on May 9th, St. Pete Beach, FL. Really wanna do: -Bermuda Round the Sound Swim -Beach-to-Beach Power Swim -St. Croix Coral Reef Swim -Fiji Swims -Fiji Ocean Swim Festival -Vanuatu Ocean Swim -Trinidad & Tobago Open Water Classic -Flowers Sea Swim (Grand Cayman) -Waikiki Roughwater Swim -Maui Channel Swim -The Alcatraz Challenge (Maybe, big maybe...not the sharks, the COLD!) Warm water tropical swims for me only! I have my eye on a few others in Florida that are not on this list, one in Ft. Myers and another in Ft. Lauderdale.

See, Todd, every time I think about this warm water ocean swims, I look at your avatar, and it's all the cold water lakes and rivers for me. Funny, that. I used to swim in the Gulf all the time.

I need to start doing O W swims.

Here is an updated version circa 2010: www.worldstop100openwaterswims.com/. I am sure we are missing many great swims on this list. What are they?

I did the Flower Sea Swim in 2010. It is a great race, so great that I am repeating in 2011. I will be in Ireland this year during the Liffey swim. Would love to do it, but they require you complete 5 other OWS during the Irish season to even register for Liffey, so alas, I will probably only be a spectator. I see a number of other races that have piqued my interest as well.

Horsetooth 10K in Fort Collins, Colorado should definitely be on the list. Cool, clean water, high altitude, beautiful surroundings, and top notch organization make this a must-swim event for all OW competitors.

OK, I'm a homer but have traveled to many of the races on this list, La Jolla Roughwater multiple times, Alcatraz Challenge, Big Shoulders, Wakiki Roughwater but I have to give kudo's and nominate my home state race the Horsetooth Open Water Swim in Fort Collins, Colorado for a top 100 position. -Longevity, the event started in 1999 and has had no missing years, even in inclement weather. -USMS National 10K Championship in 2006. -The 10K race is a unique point to point race for a inland location. -Grown to include other races beyond the 10K such as; the popular 2.4 mile length and several USA Swimming sanctioned race lengths, introducing many young swimmers to there first open water racing experience. -High altitude, about a mile high. -Beautiful location nestled against the Rocky Mountains, many times you will see deer on banks as you swim by, in fact Rocky Mountain National Park is just 35 miles west. -Race is core to a surprising large Colorado open water & marathon swimming community*. Many swimmers have done this race have gone on to do the English Channel, Catalina Channel etc., for example 2010 Colorado swimmers had at least four successful individual and two relays crossing of the English Channel, and four successful individual crossings of the Catalina, those swimmers started there interest in marathon swimming at this event. Other channel crossers from Colorado over the years did this race first. This includes Triple Crown swimmer Craig Lennings. -Well organized by people with a passion for this sport. *Colorado is one of the most physically active states per capita, in the United States. Were known for the obvious like skiing, hiking etc., but were surprisingly big in aquatics for an inland state. We have one of highest percentages of USMS registered swimmers in the U.S. Last year we may have had more swimmers successfully swim a channel then any other state. Were very high in the level of Scuba diving certifications. Boulder, CO (just down the road from Horsetooth) might be considered the triathlon training capital of the U.S.

I am going to do The Bosphorus Cross-Continental in 2011...Last Enrollment Date: 17 May 2011