I organized a swim recently and we had non-wetsuit and wetsuit categories. I'm fine with accommodating wetsuits for open water swimming. However, the challenge comes up in the awards portion. Should wetsuit swimmers be entitled to the exact same type of awards as non-wetsuit swimmers? The problem this poses as an organizer is that suddenly you need to purchase twice the number of awards to accommodate a separate division (wetsuit), even though everyone's swimming the same race.
What might be fair for next time (learning as I go) is to award the top 3 male/female non-wetsuit swimmers for each event, but just the #1 male and female in the wetsuit category for each event. They at least get acknowledged for their efforts.
Curious if anyone else has thoughts on this.
When I was younger cold water was not a problem. I went into water that had ice on top without a Wet Suit. I worked out in very cold water. Now I am almost 70 years old and still working out. I found THE OLDER YOU ARE THE COLDER YOU ARE. As you get older you will also experience this. I will be swimming the Alcatraz Island swim in July water temp around 60 with a wet suit this year.
For me it is not the ribin that counts it is I DID IT I still can. This is something I want to do until I cannot any more. Remember you will be 70 some day too, and may want to do open water events. Don't let the cold keep you away.
When I was younger cold water was not a problem. I went into water that had ice on top without a Wet Suit. I worked out in very cold water. Now I am almost 70 years old and still working out. I found THE OLDER YOU ARE THE COLDER YOU ARE. As you get older you will also experience this. I will be swimming the Alcatraz Island swim in July water temp around 60 with a wet suit this year.
For me it is not the ribin that counts it is I DID IT I still can. This is something I want to do until I cannot any more. Remember you will be 70 some day too, and may want to do open water events. Don't let the cold keep you away.
