Global Swimmer

When you talk to triathletes they usually remind you of how cheap swimming is, when compared to running and especially cycling. The only tools you need are a swimsuit, a cap and some goggles, and you are all set. This is especially true for purist marathon swimmers, who don’t use wetsuits.  However, traveling around the world to do races in different bodies of water is far from inexpensive. Worse yet, tackling the world’s most famous Channel Swims has become a very lucrative business for some – and a reason to go broke for others. With green lights being weather-dependent, and so many swimmers asking for the opportunity to do these crossings and have their minute of fame within the OWS world, waitlists are growing to 2-3 years, and some organizers do not even bother to answer emails or calls. This has sparked some debate lately, about the need for having ratifying associations at all.  In most of the popular crossings, a single association manages the swim. In some o...

Whenever you say you are an Open Water Swimmer – let alone an Ice Swimmer – people look at you with a deep sense of disbelief and concern. Even other pool swimmers usually ask the ubiquitous and unanswerable question: Why on Earth would you do that?  The funny part is that there are no meaningful awards – monetary or otherwise – to be attained. The three most sought after feats (Triple Crown, Oceans Seven and Ice Mile) in both sports hold no physical recognition. In my trophy corner at home, the prize for winning a 2.4-mile race in Turks & Caicos is way bigger and nicer than my English Channel printed certificate. And I can assure you the latter was more painful and expensive than the former. A very expensive, Bruger King crown Perhaps to compensate this lack of incentive, the two organizations regulating OWS globally, namely the World Open Water Swimming Association (“WOWSA”) and the Marathon Swimmers Federation (“MSF”) started offering annual awards in 2008 and...

I have for the last year given several interviews to regional, national and international press, in English, Spanish and French - you can check them in the depository here . I am not one to make a huge fuss out of it / them; however, the Consulate General of Spain in New York just published an interview they did to me a week ago (on their website in Spanish, here ), and I am especially proud of this one, so I have translated it into English and left it here for the non-Spanish-speakers. Enjoy! -- Interview: Diego López, the Spanish record swimmer who works in finance in New York ( 10/26/2018) Diego López already holds several records and exploits as a swimmer. But before the end of 2018 he also wants to become the first Spaniard to swim in Antarctica and the first in the world to do so on all continents in the same year, which would entail a new World Record. He resides in New York, where he works in the financial sector. In the last year, Diego López (Las Palmas de Gran C...

After swimming around Manhattan in August 2017 and across the English Channel a month ago, I was just missing Catalina Channel to complete my Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming and I had picked the night of August 16 to tackle it. Catalina is less known of a swim, that had only been crossed by 93 people by year 2000, and that became more popular only after swimmers started pursuing the Triple Crown. The first time I personally read about it was in Lynne Cox’s book, Swimming to Antarctica . Her account of how she, as a 14-year-old kid, crossed the Channel in 1971, is truly remarkable. Fast forward a few years, and there is a number of peculiarities in which this swim is organized: Distance is roughly the same as the English Channel but the currents are less pushy sideways, so the line normally comes more straight and completion times are normally lower. Waters in SoCal are pretty constant and not as cold as in Dover. In fact, there have been a few crossings in January, t...

According to the Western Christian Church, Saint Sylvester served as Pope until Dec 31, 335 - when he died and was buried in Rome. Since then, a number of Road Races have arisen to commemorate his death in different parts of the world. The most famous of them is Sao Paulo's Corrida de São Silvestre (15K), which had over 30 thousand runners this year.  Spain holds a number of running "SanSilvestres", from marathon to smaller distances, in cities like Madrid, Valencia and Las Palmas. Following this tradition and given the increasing number of open water swimmers, public and private institutions have started to offer "SwimSilvestres" too. This year, as many as 12 races were offered in rivers and lakes across all Spain, ranging from 0.1K to 2.5K. I took part in the 1.5K SwimSilvestre Galdar, held in the North of Gran Canaria for over 150 swimmers. Conditions were excellent with air temp at 22C and water temp at 18C. Most swimmers still chose to wear wetsui...

We, Open Water Swimmers are a rare breed, no doubt. Not many people understand why on Earth would we swim for so long, out in the oceans / rivers / lakes in potentially cold, dark and dangerous waters, for no reason beyond personal accomplishment or fundraising purposes. Additionally, it is a sport with no limits and with little regulation beyond the "English Channel rules". That creates a variety of approaches among marathon swimmers - some focus on being faster than anybody else, some prefer to swim longer races or pursue common feats , some others to create unprecedented, challenging routes. That also generates a wide variety of age groups and body shapes among the OWS community - in fact, some would never pass for swimmers at all. What is common among most and still amazes me is the secretive nature of the planning. While runners, triathletes and climbers have no problems in sharing their goals, swimmers tend to be more reserved to say what they are up to. This c...

Further to the  2018 Calendar  for Open Water Swimming races globally, we wanted to reflect the most commonly pursued challenges in oceans, rivers and lakes around the world. This, at the end of the day, is a sport much less regulated than traditional pool swimming, and one that encompasses from short swims below 1K to the 88K of Hernandarias Marathon and the 193K of the 7-stage 8 Bridges. Experts agree that the pinnacle of OWS is to swim the 34K English Channel from Dover to Calais, which was first crossed in 1875 and has now been accomplished by  1,831 swimmers  in history. This is less than half than the 4,000 climbers that have reached Mount Everest’s summit to date. It could be a long way... Of course there had to be something else, so the English Channel was in 1987 grouped with the Manhattan Island Circumnavigation (46K,  970 swims  to date) and with the Catalina Channel (33K,  450 swimmers  to date) to create the Triple Crown of ...

We are excited to announce the launch of the ONLY calendar of all major swimming races in the Open Waters (Oceans, Rivers, Lakes) around the world in 2018. This list is intended for all those swimmers preparing major OWS challenges (e.g. English Channel) that would like to know what is available around them as a preparation, as well as for those swimmers keen to use a swim as an excuse for an exotic trip elsewhere. As with everything, there had to be certain criteria to build it: In case of multi-stage events, only the first date is reflected In case of various distances offered, only the longest one is reflected In case of a finish line different than the start line, only the starting location is reflected If a major OWS doesn't have a date set for 2018 yet, we assume a date similar than 2017 No organized trips or training camps are considered ( SwimTrek , WaterWorldSwim ) No Aquathlons, SwimRuns, Triathlons or Ironmans are considered Entry fees include registration fee...