Ok, so the more they email me, the more I get nervous about the water temp. Last year it was 69 which stung to get in, but it made for a nice swimming temp. By the end, though, my fingers and toes felt a little numb, but that could have been tired (??).
But this year, it could be up to 10 degrees colder?! What to do when the coolest water I can find here in Cincinnati is 80?
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Former Member
Next year the people running this should take a better approach to dispel confusion.
Indeed, while the organizers of big shoulders have consistently done an outstanding job organizing this race the confusion surrounding this years race should be a sign that some race day policies should be reconsidered. I don't personally know Andy nor do I intend on bashing the guy but regardless of whether he had the "race of his life" in his blue seventy suit I along with many others doubt that he swam the entire distance of the course (again, he beat a handful of current NCAA top qualifiers, a fmr 5k open water world champ and dropped nearly 13 minutes off his best ever 5k)... after reading the posts above this seems to be the only plausible explanation for his "unbelievable" time. Amongst hundreds of swimmers far from lead pack he very well could have either knowingly of unknowingly veered off course; offering an advantage. Even one of his friends acknowledged that he had trouble navigating at this years 10k nationals. Anyway, I suppose what actually happened will remain a mystery. Does anyone have any suggestions on how we might avoid similar problems in the future? As suggested earlier, it might be best to group the fastest swimmers in the first wave...
Next year the people running this should take a better approach to dispel confusion.
Indeed, while the organizers of big shoulders have consistently done an outstanding job organizing this race the confusion surrounding this years race should be a sign that some race day policies should be reconsidered. I don't personally know Andy nor do I intend on bashing the guy but regardless of whether he had the "race of his life" in his blue seventy suit I along with many others doubt that he swam the entire distance of the course (again, he beat a handful of current NCAA top qualifiers, a fmr 5k open water world champ and dropped nearly 13 minutes off his best ever 5k)... after reading the posts above this seems to be the only plausible explanation for his "unbelievable" time. Amongst hundreds of swimmers far from lead pack he very well could have either knowingly of unknowingly veered off course; offering an advantage. Even one of his friends acknowledged that he had trouble navigating at this years 10k nationals. Anyway, I suppose what actually happened will remain a mystery. Does anyone have any suggestions on how we might avoid similar problems in the future? As suggested earlier, it might be best to group the fastest swimmers in the first wave...
