your three favorite open water swims... and why?
by all means, feel free to include personal experiences, e.g. your english channel swim, but try to note three race events that we might register for in 2012.
my three to be elaborated on later are;
Donner Lake Swim, Truckee, CA
Highland Lakes Challenge, Austin, TX
Pennock Island Challenge, Ketchikan, AK
Honorable mentions;
Low Country Splash, Charleston, SC
San Francisco Swims
New York City Swims - NYCSwim & CIBBOWS
Interesting question. I am going to exclude relays because its just a different event swimming with friends--otherwise Trans Tahoe and Maui would be first--or maybe just behind the Fiji 18k relay.
But for open water races, in no particular order, my favorites are the Waikiki Roughwater, and the Bondi to Bronte Race--I've only done the latter once but its a great event. Superbly run, great and interesting course. It takes some strategy and skill to do well. Same for Waikiki except that I have done it more times.
For a 3rd, its a hard choice--it might be the Liberty Island Swim. Well run, very interesting course doing a tight circumnavigation of Liberty Island. Worth a trip to NYC.
Having said that, St. Croix, the La Jolla Roughwater(with all its quirks and complications), Around the Rock(Alcatraz), Corona Del Mar in Orange County, the Santa Barbara 6-mile, the Elk Lake swims in Bend, Oregon, the Bermuda swims, the New York Aquarium 5, Big Shoulders(on a nice day) and the Fiji solo swim are all close behind those 3.
Interesting question. I am going to exclude relays because its just a different event swimming with friends--otherwise Trans Tahoe and Maui would be first--or maybe just behind the Fiji 18k relay.
But for open water races, in no particular order, my favorites are the Waikiki Roughwater, and the Bondi to Bronte Race--I've only done the latter once but its a great event. Superbly run, great and interesting course. It takes some strategy and skill to do well. Same for Waikiki except that I have done it more times.
For a 3rd, its a hard choice--it might be the Liberty Island Swim. Well run, very interesting course doing a tight circumnavigation of Liberty Island. Worth a trip to NYC.
Having said that, St. Croix, the La Jolla Roughwater(with all its quirks and complications), Around the Rock(Alcatraz), Corona Del Mar in Orange County, the Santa Barbara 6-mile, the Elk Lake swims in Bend, Oregon, the Bermuda swims, the New York Aquarium 5, Big Shoulders(on a nice day) and the Fiji solo swim are all close behind those 3.
