The schedule is set and venues selected for the inaugural Great Lakes Open Water Swim Series, or GLOWS. Each LMSC in the Great Lakes Zone has identified a swim for the series. Mermaid has posted information on the first swim, in the Allegheny River, Pittsburgh, on July 11, 2010. Chicago closes the series with Big Shoulders on Saturday, September 11. Big Shoulders now counts 3 ways: as part of the H2Open Series, as part of GLOWS, and for its own sweet self. www.bigshoulders.org
Paricipants in at least 2 of the 7 GLOWS events earn points, with rankings and awards determined after the last event, Big Shoulders.
A quick summary:
Allegheny: Allegheny River, Pittsburgh, July 11, 2010
Indiana: Morse Reservoir, Noblesville, July 17
Lake Erie (Ohio): Edgewater State Park, Cleveland, July 24
Michigan: Big Red Lighthouse Swim, Holland, August 7
Kentucky: Ohio River, Cardinal Harbor, Prospect (Louisville), August 14
Wisconsin: Lake Monona, Madison, August 21
Illinois: Big Shoulders, Ohio Street Beach, Chicago, September 11
I'll link a pdf with contact info in a bit.
:)
Edit: pdf with lengths, contact info, and Web sites here: www.ilmsa.com/.../2010GLOWSSeriesDescription.pdf
The latest I find with a quick Google search is Labor Day, 2007, the Mighty Mac Swim, crossing the Straits of Mackinac in celebration of the 50th anniversary of bridge completion.
Perhaps a new series is warranted: the STRAITS series. The most horrible passages in North America (Canada has some fine entries).
A fine lake-hopping summer might start with an event in all five Great Lakes, then move east to the Finger Lakes, through the Adirondacks, into the Northern Kingdom of Vermont, which has a five-swim series, incl. Lake Memphremagog, to finish up at Eagle Pond, NH (possibly the eponymous "Golden Pond" in the movie of same name. Anyway, I like to climb North Kearsarge, which overlooks Eagle Pond).
The latest I find with a quick Google search is Labor Day, 2007, the Mighty Mac Swim, crossing the Straits of Mackinac in celebration of the 50th anniversary of bridge completion.
Perhaps a new series is warranted: the STRAITS series. The most horrible passages in North America (Canada has some fine entries).
A fine lake-hopping summer might start with an event in all five Great Lakes, then move east to the Finger Lakes, through the Adirondacks, into the Northern Kingdom of Vermont, which has a five-swim series, incl. Lake Memphremagog, to finish up at Eagle Pond, NH (possibly the eponymous "Golden Pond" in the movie of same name. Anyway, I like to climb North Kearsarge, which overlooks Eagle Pond).