How to find open water swimming (Cincinnati)

I'm still very interested in heading to East Fork state park to do some open water training this season. It sounds like some groups (Baracudas and Mercy masters) are already swimming there. Does anyone know when people typically go there to swim? Spring is approaching fast and before we know it will be warm enough to swim outside! Also, I was wondering if it might be possible to set up a Google group site for open water swimming in Cincinnati? I know some of the cycling groups in the area do this (Gears for Beers) and people can visit the site to let others know when they are planning a ride and see who wants to join them. I thought we could do the same for open water training swims. Just a thought.

Thank you tbartman for setting up the Google group. I'll sign up and mention it to some of my fellow masters swimmers.

Swim_McG (and others): I created a google group if you want to join so that we can post each other about when and where we're going to OWS. I'm especially interested in safety in numbers. It is at: groups.google.com/.../cinciows I think you can just sign up with no problem, and then you'll get messages to your e-mail when someone posts. If you have any problems, contact me (I'm the group admin). I'll contact those other groups mentioned and see if any of them want to join up or let us know when they are swimming. Ideally, sometime I'd like to see if we can advocate for somewhere closer to the city to swim. I'll start looking into the legal process (petitioning someone in the parks dept?) Tom Bartman

Hey guys, see this: www.cincyexpress.com/.../ Looks like they do swims every Saturday morning. I'll get more info.

Downtown Louisville YMCA (KY) has hosted an annual openwater one-mile and two-mile swim... I think the usual date is the second or third weekend in June

Is the Louisville swim in the Ohio river? Just curious.

This is the only open water swim I could locate in KY. Ohio has numerous open water events. This links to a previous entry form... www.ymcalouisville.org/ResourceServer and details cut-and-pasted... Shepherdsville, KY Directions: The swim will be held at Camp Crooked Creek on the Boy Scout Reservation 20 miles south of Louisville. From Louisville, take I-65 south to exit #112, state road 245. This exit is roughly 19 miles south of Louisville and 20 miles north of Elizabethtown. Turn left/east off exit #112 toward Clermont and Bardstown. Go 0.8 mile to Plen Mar Drive (Meadow Peak Subdivision) and turn right. Continue on this road for 3.9 miles till it ends at Camp Crooked Creek. The road twists around and changes names to Terry Drive – follow the black top road – it ends at the camp. Travel time from the Louisville airport is 30 minutes and 40 minutes from Downtown Louisville. The closest lodging is available at I-65 exit #117 (Best Western, Day’s Inn, Ramada Inn).

Here is another one in KY in the Ohio River: ohioriverswim.weebly.com/ I did this one last year -- the first year of the swim. The organization of the event was a little rough, but it was as could be expected for a first year event. It is a beautiful venue. I plan on doing this one again this year. It's a tough swim with half of it upstream.

I get up to Caesars Creek quite often in the summer to swim and bike with the CincyExpress group. I believe Team in Training also uses it as a home base. There are a set of buoy's that make a up 1/4 mile lap. Water is no better or worse than East Fork. Between 8:30 and 9AM it can get quite crowded, sometimes 30 to 40 triathletes weaving like drunken sailors around the course, so you have to pay attention. I'm hoping to do some open water events this summer. Hope to see you out there. David