Pacific Open Water Challenge - Am I expecting too much?

chrisM - doesn't sound good... I recently swam the NYCswim Great Hudson River Swim... you practically needed a fork lift for the goody bag... my only expectations were a race t-shirt and a finisher medal... does seem POW was meant to raise a little bit of money, and zero return to its participants.

I sincerely apologize for your experiences in the 4K Open Water Pursuit. I take full responsibility for the unacceptable conditions and circumstances of the event. I will try to address your valid concerns one-by-one: > not sure if I am being petty? You are not being petty. Just honest and your feedback is greatly appreciated. > No swim cap We could find no sponsors other than the generous people of Amino Vital which provided a lot of products that were available in the swimmer's tent, StingMate which provided a lot of their outstanding jellyfish sting spray, TRISWIM that provided the gift baskets for the awards, California dried plums and Swim Smooth and H2OAudio that provided give-away products. > No T Shirt Instead of t-shirts, we provided pre-race clinics in 3 different locations. The coaches at these clinics were outstanding, have decades of experience at the highest levels and, in my opinion, worth a lot more than other clinics. However, it turns out that very few people attended these clinics and the interest was obviously more in t-shirts than clinics. This was a valuable lesson to learn. > No announcing at the end. Yes, this was a total mistake. I was personally embarrassed when Colin Hill of www.greatswim.org crossed the finish line in the 4K. Colin is truly one of the world's greatest open water race directors whose races in England draw tens of thousands. When Colin crossed, there was no fanfare or recognition which must have been a shock to him. The announcer had left and I was swimming myself with one of our guest athletes from the Special Olympics. I truly, sincerely apologize. > No awards that I could make out. Awards were given out, but to non-existant fanfare. > ...they were breaking down barriers Again, another total mistake. I really wish I could turn the clock back. > Someone asked to look at my number and disappeared I believe this person was probably confirming your time with the video. > No race clock. Yes, we did not have a race clock for the USA Swimming National Championships either. This was not planned for. > No post race water. There should have been water in the swimmer's tent. I grabbed a bottle myself after I finished. I believe that I finished either only a few minutes before you or a few minutes after you. I was busy with our Special Olympics athlete who did the Open Water Pursuit with me, so again I apologize. > It was kinda like, get out of the water, thanks for coming, towel off and leave. Like I spent $35 just to swim their laid-out course. Is it just an extra way to make money since the course is already set up for the pros? This was most definitely not a money-making endeavor. > I could have swum in Manhattan Beach for free that morning. Please send me an email at headcoach@10Kswim.com and I will personally reimburse you and send you some swim caps. > But it is a race, and it should have a race or community environment, like it did in 2008. Again, this was my fault and I did not involve the local community as I should have. I have been working on this event for months and if there is anything that I can do to "make good", please tell me. > Website said 4K started at 1:45. Got there and was told it started at 1:30. Luckily, we were a bit early. Afterwards, as I was drying off, some guy asked me what I swam, and when I said the 4K, he said "I thought that started at 3???" Yes, the schedule was shifted when we learned that so few people had signed up for the race. We ended up combining the 2K and 4K which meant the 4K start was earlier. I was running around trying to organize everything for the pre-adjusted start and did not realize that people had left the venue (or had not arrived). > I cannot say for sure I'd go back and do this race I would not blame you for not coming back, but it appears that the Open Water Pursuit is a concept that is not popular or well understood. The purpose of adding the Open Water Pursuit is because this is a new race on the World Swimming Championship schedule. That is, if the swimming community added a new distance to the pool competition, then USA Swimming and USMS would probably want to add that new distance to their own events. This is what I did. We had many foreign guests (from 14 countries) who flew in to watch how we handled the new event. It is obvious that the Open Water Pursuit probably will not return, at least not in Southern California. > I know Steven Munatones pops in here now and again so maybe he can comment. I can only apologize from the bottom of my heart and try to make good by refunding your money or giving you one of my own caps that I have received from other states and countries. I have been fielding complaints since yesterday and am doing my best to respond as honestly and quickly as I can.

To Swimthegoodfight: Because the Special Olympics is adding open water swimming to its World Games schedule, we had wanted to have Special Olympics as our charity. However, the Special Olympics instead requested to have one of its athletes participate in the 2K Open Water Pursuit. Sam Silver of northern California was a wonderful representative and I was very proud to swim with him. But the event was very expensive to put on and the number of entrants was significantly smaller than I had anticipated. However, I do want to call attention to the wonderful support that we received from the Long Beach Yacht Club that provided the boats and pilots who generously gave of their time.

Steven - Thanks for the reply. I wouldn't think of asking you for the race fee back. I have a good friend that runs the Redondo tri and I know what goes into making an event work (and I didn't mean to imply you were milking this to make a ton of dough, I know that's not how it works). My only quibble is that the pre race clinics (which I had planned to attend but schedules didn't permit it) cost more to go to. I guess you should tell Gerry to stop offering his advice for free at Tower 26, that would probably get more people to go :) Anyway, hope you don't feel my point was to slag you or the race. I'd love to see more OW races, and I know we've lost a lot due to liability concerns and lifeguard costs. For the record, the guy I came with said he had no problem coming back and doing the race again (although he said he could use a new race shirt :) ). And I just missed the water. My thoughts: Return to the multi format with 5K, aquathlon, etc. (even the doggy dash). That may not work if you want it to be more of an elite event centered around the 5/10K. But it would seem to bring in more people (I think the Playa del Run events do pretty well). Perhaps not call the swim a "pursuit," even if that's what other countries call it. Honestly, I was a bit confused as to what it meant. If you do it again, I think just calling it a 2K or 4K swim is sufficient. Maybe some people were turned off by that, I don't know. Revamp the website - It was pretty confusing to navigate through that site. Needs to be simpler, and focus on that race, not OW swimming in general and different events as a whole (that's what your site is for) Moving an event later is fine due to delay, but moving an event sooner isn't a great option. I understand an appreciate the desire to swim with the Special Olympian, but an RD (I am assuming you're the RD, apologies if you aren't) should be on the deck all the time, to deal with things like the announcer For post race stuff like water, have someone at the finish chute to direct swimmers to the swimmers tent (I wasn't aware there was one). These are just my thoughts, and again, I wouldn't dream of asking for the event entry fee back. You provided a safe, well marked, and (unfortunately for my finish time) accurate course ( I swam the infamous 1.5 mile "1 mile" course in 2008, or whatever it actually was). The rest is just the "fringe benefits" we middle aged AGers look for in races. Chris

Thank you very much for this feedback and your understanding. It is greatly appreciated and the kind of input that can only lead to better events in the future.

Steven - thanks for addressing concerns. I did a little research regarding the event due to Chris' thread... and made a mental note of the clinic-aspect of the race. Cannot help but wonder if the whole of the event was on the pricey side... thanks so much for all your contributions to open water swimming... no doubt, no one questions that you're one of the good guys. I think the pursuit race is a great concept... and am a big fan of Sandy & Keith Bell's stage race in Texas - the Highland Lakes Challenge. I know you have written about the race... perhaps you can make a trip to Austin this fall.

I love open water swimming -- all my training year-round is aimed at the summer open water races. I swam the POW in 2008 and 2009; but when I saw the changes for 2010, I felt really disappointed and never really considered entering. Perhaps hearing the reasons why swimmers didn't swim this year might help planning for future races. Here's why I stayed home: • The races took place too early in the season. I don't usually start preparing in earnest for open water swims until my kids finish school, giving me more time in the morning to train. However, even given the early date and the specter of cold water, I might have still entered except that... • ...the 2010 POW was no longer part of the SPMA open water series as it was the last two years. I still might have entered, except that... • ...I had no idea what a "pursuit" race was, but did know that it didn't sound like as much fun as the usual mass start where everyone jumps in together, swims their heart out, and that's that. I still might have entered, except that... • ...I prefer longer races, yet we hoi polloi were delegated to the short stuff while the big kids (i.e. the word class swimmers) got to swim what felt to me like the *real* races. By the way, the caps and t-shirts don't matter much to me; I just like a good race.

pursuit sounds like fun. we often train that way, and in many OW events, i feel lucky if i am able to find a couple of people to swim with.