I found the narrowness of the range of times surprising. Although 39:31 is a great time, of course, I would think that any sub-16:00 1650 swimmer would do better (uh... I just checked the USMS race database. Turns out that Chad La Tourettte is the only USMS swimmer in 2018 that bested 16:30 in either short course or long 1650 yd or 1500 M, Me being ignorant? Hard to imagine, innit?).
But I would have expected to have a posse of people finishing under 50:00, but Baker was the only one. I would have also expected there to have been more than 1 person in the > 1:35 range. (which is what I would aspire to in the race.)
Remember that in open water, you do not get the benefit of wall push-offs, as well as dealing with navigation and currents, even in a cable swim and in a lake.
I found the narrowness of the range of times surprising. Although 39:31 is a great time, of course, I would think that any sub-16:00 1650 swimmer would do better (uh... I just checked the USMS race database. Turns out that Chad La Tourettte is the only USMS swimmer in 2018 that bested 16:30 in either short course or long 1650 yd or 1500 M, Me being ignorant? Hard to imagine, innit?).
But I would have expected to have a posse of people finishing under 50:00, but Baker was the only one. I would have also expected there to have been more than 1 person in the > 1:35 range. (which is what I would aspire to in the race.)
Remember that in open water, you do not get the benefit of wall push-offs, as well as dealing with navigation and currents, even in a cable swim and in a lake.
