Best Open Water Races in Asia?

this is the most comprehensive ow calendar i've seen.... www.thewaterisopen.com/.../asia the closest i've been to the far east is chinatown, SF.

There are hundreds of open water swims throughout Asia; however, most of the swims do not have English-language websites. I do cover several dozen open water swims every year in Japan, China, Hong Kong, Korea, Thailand and Singapore at http://10kswim.blogspot.com. You can read about a 12-event series in Japan here: 10kswim.blogspot.com/.../japanese-open-water-swimming-growing.html. The Clean Half 15K Marathon Swim is a great solo and relay race in Hong Kong.

try this http://www.oceanswims.com/ My 12 and 13 year old nephews swam in the Toowoon bay races :banana: That's where my mum and sister live. Can't wait to go back. Lots of other fun stuff too!!! A

I live in Japan and have competed in a few Open water swims here. They tend to be on the shorter side, 5km under. There are a few longer swims. Let me know if you're interested in any info on OWS in Japan. Majority of sites are in Japanese, but I can read Japanese and help you out.

I don't know if these are the best swims in Asia, but they are most certainly ows events in Asia. Hong Kong seems to have an active OWS scene. 15km individual swim for 2011 - entries open www.thecleanhalf.com/registration.html A handful of other swims in Hong Kong for 2011 can be found (you'll need to sift this page in between runs, triathlon events etc, there are some straight ows events listed) www.2xuhk.com/.../ There are also over 55 ows events throughout Japan

Further afield in Oceania - there a few swims in Fiji (1.5k,/3km and 10km) and Vanuatu (Espiritu Santo and Port Vila - 1.5km/3.2km). Dates for 2011 have been released. www.pacificswims.com/.../

Wish I could do that 10K in Fiji. My son and I would be in HEAVEN!

I'm starting to think about some goal races for the next few years and none of my aspirations include the Channel, Manhattan, or Catalina. I'd like to start going farther afield for my races, making it a fun vacation for my entire family with a longer race thrown in. Has anyone done any open water in Thailand? Indonesia? Vietnam? Korea? Japan? I'd love to do 10K or longer. Any suggestions? This race is the best race from Asia to Europe. It's about 6.5 km... http://www.bosphorus.cc/Home

We just had the 2nd Annual Bali Ocean Swim in Bali, Indonesia offering 1.2K, 5K, and 10K distances. It's held in early July. It's a small but really top-notch event run by two Olympians (one being Bob Windle, a 1500m Olympic gold medallist from Australia). Winning time for the 10K was 2:02 in the open ocean. http://www.balioceanswim.com

Has anyone had any experience with the Sun Moon Lake International Swimming Carnival in Taiwan? Have never done this swim but have heard of it. Not particularly interested in it because it's not a competitive timed swim, just a fun lake crossing. Also way too many participants!! In 2009, there were over 25,000 people! (most of whom apparently wore flotation devices). I pulled up this piece on the Internet from last year: ==== Sun Moon Lake to host world's largest swimming race Thursday, 22 July 2010: Taiwan Rebecca Burns The largest swimming race in the world will take place at one of Taiwan’s top tourist sights, Sun Moon Lake (Jih Yueh Tan in Taiwanese), located in the heart of the country, on 20 September 2010. The Sun Moon Lake International Swimming Festival is an annual event staged around the Mid-Autumn Festival and attracting around thousands of competitors who swim 3.3 kilometres across the lake, often using flotation devices. Swimming is not usually allowed in Sun Moon Lake, which is surrounded by beautiful mountain scenery and is considered sacred by local indigenous tribes, so this mass swim is quite a unique event. It is not a competitive timed race, but simply a fun, mass participation cross-lake swim, and in 2009 attracted some 25,888 registered swimmers, making it easily the biggest event of its kind in the world. ====