Philly area swimmers--anyone swim in the Schuylkill?

RE: Philly area swimmers--anyone swim in the Schuylkill?

FindingMyInnerFish — Fri, 12 Apr 2019 03:36:24 GMT

Opening this old thread because amazingly enough in the past 5 years, I've been swimming in the Schuylkill every year, including open water races, even an 8 mile swim marathon! Interesting that at the time there weren't (at least based on this thread) any organized swims or open water races until French Creek Racing came along. Now there are regular swims in the river. Here's the site in case anyone is interested in jumping in. BTW, I'm still alive and well, not glowing in the dark, nothing spooky (at least as far as I know lol!). Events list, with all but the French Creek Tri and the Toughkids Tri taking place in the Schuylkill: frenchcreekracing.com/.../ Open water training registration link (or just show up and bring $20): http://tinyurl.com/yyruexoh I'm so glad to be part of this great group. I hope some of you join us!

RE: Philly area swimmers--anyone swim in the Schuylkill?

Former Member — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 12:10:09 GMT

YUCK! Given that it first drains farm country (fertilizers, pesticides, animal waste) and then urban areas, I'd be very hesitant to swim there. I have heard that it also has a measurable level of coloform (sp?) bacteria. Shots (hepatitis A & B, cholera, etc) are definitely in order. -LBJ

RE: Philly area swimmers--anyone swim in the Schuylkill?

FindingMyInnerFish — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 09:38:45 GMT

RE: Philly area swimmers--anyone swim in the Schuylkill?

Former Member — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 06:28:32 GMT

All this talk about the Schuylkill has me wondering about the Potomac. I'm doing a triathlon in DC next weekend and I have to swim 750m in the river. The only thing I could find on the web was an article from 2007 discussing how bad the water has always been in the past, and what a big deal it was to finally have a sanctioned event there in '07. I wonder what type of soup I will be stepping into on the 21st. Anyone have any experience with the Potomac or know of any water quality monitoring websites? btw, to the original poster - if you're looking for open water events in the Philly area, I suggest one of the saltwater swims at the Jersey shore. Here's a link: www.oceancityswimclub.org/

RE: Philly area swimmers--anyone swim in the Schuylkill?

Former Member — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 06:20:11 GMT

RE: Philly area swimmers--anyone swim in the Schuylkill?

tjrpatt — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 03:03:33 GMT

If you don't find anything, you can try the 1st annual Steelman Swim in Quakertown, PA. 1.5 and 3- mile lake swim on 7/12/09. Not too far from Philly. (I'm coming from MD) Here is info link: www.lin-mark.us/page.asp Darn,That would have sounded like fun but I have a USA-S meet in Ephrata on Sunday. I might do the one on the Atlantic City one on the 27th of June. I didn't even see this on my local LMSC website and they have more OW listings than the phone book.

RE: Philly area swimmers--anyone swim in the Schuylkill?

FindingMyInnerFish — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 01:02:19 GMT

Have to admit that when I first heard about tri's w/ the swim portion in the Schuylkill, it sounded crazy. But yes, it's a fairly frequent event--there's the Philly Tri (with both Oly. and sprint distances), SheRox, and I think one other. Friends who have done these tri's said the swim wasn't bad--although someone (I vaguely remember) said something about getting a rash like the one that TS mentioned. But most people I know who have done tri's there don't report any problems and are regular participants. Would it be my first choice of a swimming venue? Nope. But given the number of events held there lately, I wondered if maybe they've cleaned it up in the past several years. One year they had to cancel the swim, though, because the rain had made conditions dangerous (debris, faster moving water, etc.).

RE: Philly area swimmers--anyone swim in the Schuylkill?

tjrpatt — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 11:58:53 GMT

Hey all, I know they hold a couple of tri's in the area that include a Schuylkill swim. After one of them, I was talking to a guy who participated, and he said he often did practice swims in the Schuylkill on his own. I can't see myself doing that--not ready to assume the risks of swimming alone in that river--but are there ever organized swims outside of the triathlons? I'm not interested in doing the tri's (the bike part never interested me, and I have a gimpy foot so can't run), but I think it would be cool to just do the swim portion of a tri (although I'm not fast enough for a team to see me as an asset if they want to be competitive)--even better if they'd ever have stand-alone o.w. swims, since the location is so convenient for me. Has anyone gotten word of stand-alone swims in the works? I haven't heard of any stand alone swim along the Schuylkill. I never swam in the Schuylkill.

RE: Philly area swimmers--anyone swim in the Schuylkill?

Former Member — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 10:04:07 GMT

I found this site which says the river is currently at the highest ("Red") contaminant level: www.phillyrivercast.org/ I couldn't find any historical data, but past experience would lead me to believe that Red is a very common level for the Schuylkill. :D We used to swim, fish, waterski, etc. in the Delaware, but never the Schuylkill. Then again, I used to jump off a rope swing into Pennypack Creek, and I survived that.

RE: Philly area swimmers--anyone swim in the Schuylkill?

Former Member — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 06:10:04 GMT

I knew someone on the Temple rowing team who accidentally fell into the Schuykill and got a nasty rash after only being in there for 30 seconds. The river is extremely polluted, or at least it was 10 years ago when I lived in Philly. It was bad enough to kill most of the shad that attempted to swim upstream and spawn. It is possible that they've cleaned it up since then. I would recommend checking the water quality levels before you go. Here in WA we have websites that list real-time levels for fecal coliform, etc. Maybe Philly has something similar?

RE: Philly area swimmers--anyone swim in the Schuylkill?

tjrpatt — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 02:24:55 GMT

I had friends who did the Philly triathlon and everyone said that the water was fine.