I am doing a 1K swim from Brooklyn to Manhattan under the Brooklyn Bridge tomorrow. There are over 400 people doing this race and they are going to start everyone at once. For arguments sake, say with no shows, etc there are going to be 375 swimmers doing it. This is a lot of people starting at one time I guess. This is my first OW race and I am a little nervous. I am a decent swimmer, so I dont know if I want to stay to the back on the start and I know I dont want to be totally at the front. Does anyone know if they line us up in a certain order or does anyone have any strategies that have worked for them in the past with what I assume is a fairly large race start. Any input would be appreciated.
So in hopes of helping someone else in my spot before their 1st OW, I tried to stay wide on the start (option #4). However I wasnt wide enough and even though I was only 3 or 4 people from the starting line it still posed a large problem. The course start was like a funnel because on the shoreline and course setup so even though I was only a few back as soon as the race started I was in the middle of chaos. It was like swimming in a washing machine. :) After about 200-300 meters things calmed down and I was able to get into a rhythm.
The start is at about 1:45 in at the link below.
YouTube - HD Brooklyn Bridge Swim 2010
So in hopes of helping someone else in my spot before their 1st OW, I tried to stay wide on the start (option #4). However I wasnt wide enough and even though I was only 3 or 4 people from the starting line it still posed a large problem. The course start was like a funnel because on the shoreline and course setup so even though I was only a few back as soon as the race started I was in the middle of chaos. It was like swimming in a washing machine. :) After about 200-300 meters things calmed down and I was able to get into a rhythm.
The start is at about 1:45 in at the link below.
YouTube - HD Brooklyn Bridge Swim 2010
