Race Coverage

Bigger & Better Than Ever...

Tuesday, 14 February 2023 00:10

By Doobie Kurus

The 3rd Annual SWIM-Off to Summer open water challenge took place on Saturday, June 4th and it was bigger and better than ever. We had 180 people registered, from 8 different states, including Texas, Arizona, and California. This was a 30%+ increase from last years numbers. Imagine if the forecast wasn't calling for storms, which fortunately never happened. It turned out to be a beautiful day for a jump in the lake. We had a nice mix of swimmers (94) to triathletes (87), although we noticed well over half the field was made up of female competitors. ...

This year the buoys were placed using preset GPS coordinates (courtesy of fellow triathlete, Paul Pasko) which widened a lot of eyes this year as the course was a lot truer to posted distances. Paul, a civil engineer by trade, had so much fun creating the course, he even used depth charts of Shady Oak Lake to make sure the swim course was in deep enough water to avoid weeds. He even had 2 buoys set out midway that people had to swim through (which not everyone noticed, so we'll work on improving that for next year.)

 
Afterwards, people made their way over to the pavilion for the BBQ, awards/doorprizes, and to meet some of the reps from other events, like Matt Evans (Brewhouse and Buzz Ryan), Jamie Nelson (Moose Lake Tri), and Kyle Swenson (Tri West). Thank you all of the events that donated race entries. We gave away 18 race entries (collective value of over $1,500) and gift cards to Gear West and Elsmore Swim Shop. Thank you to Hammer Nutrition for our packet pickup bags., post race electrolytes, and  energy gels, as well as to the Hopkins HS Girls Swim Team for volunteering on race day.
 
In the end, Team Swimmers retained the right they say they rule the open water in the men's category with Keith Johnson of St. Louis Park first out of the water with a time of 27:57, a full minute ahead of triathlete Sam Janicki of Mound. BUT, in the women's category, triathlete Christina Roberts of Minneapolis (4th overall) put Team Triathletes in the winner's circle giving the Triathletes their first ever crown! Not far behind Christina was swimmer Victoria Greeman of Apple Valley. Full results can be found here: https://www.mtecresults.com/event/show/4307/2022_Open_Water_Challenge
 
If anyone, especially triathletes, is interested in more open water swim only events this summer, check out the Open Water 1/2 marathon series. There are 4 different events all over the Twin Cities with distances ranging from 1 to 10 (yes 10!) miles. You might not win a triathlon with the swim, but you very might lose one on the swim!
 
Have a fun summer! We encourage everyone to TRI 3 (multisport or open water events this summer!).
Click here for a list of known MN events.