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Saturday, July 14th dawned with the continued nice weather experienced in Seattle the week previous and gave the 328 participants (and that was WITHOUT day-of-race registration) an absolutely gorgeous morning to face the Fat Salmon 3.2 or 1.2 mile open water swim challenge in Lake Washington. The Fat Salmon Open Water Swim is a premier open water swimming event in the Seattle Area and the Northwest. Hundreds of swimmers have participated in this event since it was first run in 1999. Two swimming distances are offered to accommodate swimmers with different levels of experience and ability. Swimmers who are new to Open Water Swimming or who are more comfortable swimming a shorter distance wet their toes with the 1.2 mile swim. Those with more experience, who want to challenge themselves with a truly long-distance event, opt for the 3.2 mile swim. The 3.2 mile swim starts under the I-90 bridge and follows the shore to Madison Park. The 1.2 mile course starts up the beach at Denny Blaine Park, intersects with the 3.2 mile course and also finishes at Madison Park. There are both wetsuit and non-wetsuit divisions with separate rankings and awards for each. The race had great sponsors, great volunteers, and two awesome race organizers; Liz Shimizu, the PNA Registrar and Toby Coenen, the Race Director. The grand combination of the perfect lake conditions and perfect weather, made the 2007 Fat Salmon Open Water Swim a day to remember. Two FS records were broken this year. Greg Jablonski now holds the 3-mile wetsuit record and Gordon Smith, the 1-mile non-wetsuit record. A link to the full race results is posted on the website www.fatsalmonswim.org. FWM was represented by a slightly smaller than usual, but none-the-less jovial, band of BRAVE souls!!! Julie Monteil, Judy Williams, Chris Hinds, Zena Courtney, Eric Dybdahl and former FWM’er Dave Stewart. The water was warmish (66) and relatively calm (compared to the year 2004 when we did it on Fishing Opening Day with tons of boats making tons of waves). We almost all bettered our times from previous years and while I did experience my usual asthma and claustrophobia attack, I managed to keep my wetsuit on this year for the entire 1.2 swim. However, the record held by a local TRIATHLETE (this is insulting to swimmers, mind you) that I usually beat in open water by minutes, continues to elude me...
1.2
mile non-wetsuit ('04/'06 vs '07 time)
1.2 mile wetsuit (the elusive record is 26:20)
3.2 mile wetsuit The race organizers are always looking for volunteers to help with everything and anything so if you feel so inclined next year to watch before experiencing it- their e-mail address is fatsalmonswim@gmail.com. May the Swimming Salmon Be With You!
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Copyright (c) 2007 Federal Way Masters.
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