LOST swimming races

Saturday Aug 11th we held the 5th annual 3.8k Lake Ontario Swim Team (LOST) race and the 1st 10k open water Canadian Masters Swimming Championships.  As the registrar for LOST and trying to do even more regarding the race than usual so Rob could relax abit more before his Lake Ontario Crossing attempt happening 2 days after the races, I've been quite busy: registering, emailing, meetings oh my!

193 people to date are on this year's swimmers list, that's people either doing one of this years races or this year's Saturday regular swims (or both).  151 are LOST swim members ($5 to be a member of a great group, it's a no brainer, but to have that many signed up to swim with us in the Lake on Saturdays is totally awesome!).  I've registered 124 people with MSO.  104 people registered for the 3.8k race (10 were no shows) this year, our largest race yet and 19 people registered for the 10k.  Okay I'm a number geek, but after entering all this, I at least get a bit of a thrill seeing how the numbers have added up!  I feel like I'm always saying it but I love to see the increase in the number of people swimming in the Lake!

registration fun

But can you imagine the terror race morning, showing up in the dark with the lightning and eventually the downpour ~ all the planning and it looked like we may have to cancel.
Thankfully we borrowed an open sided tent to put over us for the registrations, but it meant cramped quarters and soggy swimmers.  Thanks to some great helpers I think we were fairly efficient at getting everyone registered and set for their race.  The 10k had a slight delay for the weather to be acceptable and then were able to set off while we got the 3.8k swimmers prepared.  And the rain did cease for, I believe, all the 3.8k swimmers to finish. (Although we weren't so lucky waiting for the final 10kers to come in)

the 10k is off

And for me, this would be my 1st swim race in over a year!  I didn't really know if with my duties I'd be able to jump in and participate, but Jenn had timing under control and Joanne had everything else.  So once my main responsibility of registering and ensure all the race day registrants got to Jenn to put in the timing system, ensuring we had the same head count and getting all the wetsuit wearers categorized, I strip down (my swimsuit was underneath, but I would go "naked" (which means without a wetsuit)), grab my goggles and head to the start.  They are waiting for me as I run, putting my cap on, Rob asks "are your goggles broken?"  I look, yep, "start the race without me" Back up I go to grab another pair of goggles as the blast goes off.  Getting down to the start is not a quick process, especially with slippery rocks due to the rain, so by the time I actually get going I figure I'm approximately 5 minutes behind, but I'm giddy!  This was going to be a fun one!  A good rocky and wavy swim.  This is real open water and I enjoy it.  Although in my head as part of the organization for the race, this is far from ideal, in fact it is a worry.  I know swimmers will take a beating from this, not to mention the stress on the on water safety volunteers.  I didn't even see the buoys or kayakers while swimming, pretty much all you could see was waves.  Swimming straight was not going to happen, it was pretty darn impossible to site.  I have heard stories from the 10kers not seeing the feed boat on any of their laps (I didn't see it either, but I wasn't looking for it) Unfortunately some people got pulled from the race (but hopefully they understand our need to err on the side of safety) and some knew to pull themselves.  This was a hard swim!  And about as bad as conditions can be without calling the race off!  So everyone out there, swimmers and volunteers alike, really deserve a pat on the back!

Jillian lent me her jacket

The late start, the rough water, poor siting, I knew it wouldn't be a fast swim, so I just plodded along.  I finally start catching some people, although being close by other swimmers was scarce.  At one point I remember that I didn't put clothes in a bag to send to the finish line.  It's a 3.8k point to point race, nothing like realizing you'll have nothing to cover up with after swimming "naked" lol...  My shoulders do start to feel the effect of the rough water, but it's bearable and I try to roll more and think technique...Finally I reach the finishing buoy and get a great LOST medal!

the finish

There are many people to thank for making it another successful race especially considering the conditions:

My daughter Cadence helped me number 120 bathing caps and baked over 200 cookies for the swimmers
Joe and Alex made/got the buoys and set up the course

Bill (husband), the zodiac man & Joe the kayaker-organizing man were supporting from the zodiac (& over came a slight glitch race morning when they found the zodiac boxed in and had to carry the boat across the dock, resulting in Joe slipping off the dock and badly injuring his leg)

Paul Crone stepped up as referee for the race, making it "official"

All the kayakers who toughed it out on the water for over 4 hours! & all the people who provided their kayaks for the kayakers.

friendly feed boat volunteers

Our feed station volunteers: Olga, Maria and Alex

Jenn came on board with the timing and that was a major help (although very difficult for her to sort the 1st few finishers, since the 10k 1st turn around buoy didn't get moved closer to shore for the finish, she managed to get it sorted out and get the race winner Dylan (Rob's son) to move the buoy for the rest of us)

My registration helpers: Elizabeth, Joanne, Susan, Annette

The volunteers for body markers, finish bag transporters, medal & snacks distributors...

Maisey made the LOST rock awards

The core organization team: Rob, Joanne, Joe, Alex, Bill, Jenn and I really put our hearts into this race, so we sure hope you enjoyed yourselves!  and take pride in taking part in one tough open water event.

Results: 2012 LOST 3.8k results & 2012 10k National Masters Championship