Open-water swimming has grown exponentially over last 15-years. I remember when event director of Horsetooth 10K swim in Colorado contacted to me and wanted to know if I as going to enter that year. He said he was just about at there limit for entries, I was dumbfounded as for the first couple of years of this race there were about two dozen of us who did it and most of us knew each other, now all of sudden he was at 48 of 50 max. The Horsetooth race remains a favorite for me and has become a destination race for many because of it's unique point to point course and a beautiful setting in the foothills outside of Ft Collins, Colorado. But because it's point to point it cannot be done safely without motorized water craft patrolling the course. The USMS national Championship designation does have some appeal for me and now that registration is open I may do the LV10K, but to be honest I can do 1500 meter closed loop courses locally. With the growth of this sport has come interesting and fun destination swims like Kingdom swim in Vermont, Dave Barra's staged swim down the Hudson, the Bridges swim in Portland etc. If I'm going to hop on a plane for a swim, like many of my veteran open-water swimming colleagues I want something more then a boring looped course on a flat lake. Maybe I'm just out of step but I don't understand the rationals and apologetic's for this. It's not a good thing for the growth of this sport. I don't know who USMS insurance provider is, and there likely stuck with this for 2013, but if I were on the USMS board I'd start shopping for some other Insurance provider or a way around this for the future
Open-water swimming has grown exponentially over last 15-years. I remember when event director of Horsetooth 10K swim in Colorado contacted to me and wanted to know if I as going to enter that year. He said he was just about at there limit for entries, I was dumbfounded as for the first couple of years of this race there were about two dozen of us who did it and most of us knew each other, now all of sudden he was at 48 of 50 max. The Horsetooth race remains a favorite for me and has become a destination race for many because of it's unique point to point course and a beautiful setting in the foothills outside of Ft Collins, Colorado. But because it's point to point it cannot be done safely without motorized water craft patrolling the course. The USMS national Championship designation does have some appeal for me and now that registration is open I may do the LV10K, but to be honest I can do 1500 meter closed loop courses locally. With the growth of this sport has come interesting and fun destination swims like Kingdom swim in Vermont, Dave Barra's staged swim down the Hudson, the Bridges swim in Portland etc. If I'm going to hop on a plane for a swim, like many of my veteran open-water swimming colleagues I want something more then a boring looped course on a flat lake. Maybe I'm just out of step but I don't understand the rationals and apologetic's for this. It's not a good thing for the growth of this sport. I don't know who USMS insurance provider is, and there likely stuck with this for 2013, but if I were on the USMS board I'd start shopping for some other Insurance provider or a way around this for the future
