Monday, September 6 2010

THE Amateur Swimming Association of Trinidad and Tobago (ASATT) will host the annual Maracas Open Water Classic on Sunday, September 26. The race for juniors (12 & Under) of about 700m will commence at 10 am, followed by the Seniors at 11 am and will be 2500m and 5000m respectively.

This is the first time a 5000m category has been added to the Open Water Classic. This distance is in line with world standard courses which minimum length is usually 5000m.

The normal course of 3000m event has been reduced to 2500m, to make the 5000m event a two-lap contest. Therefore seniors now have the option to do either a 2500m or the longer 5000m course.

ASATT is seeking the assistance of corporate TT to assist in the annual event which attracted 300 swimmers last year. More focus has been put on Open Water Swimming with an Open Water Committee being established earlier this year.

Race winner from 1962 to 1964 and prolific national open water swimmer Gordon Borde is the chairman of this committee. Borde and ASATT first vice-president Paul Homer recently attended the inaugural Global Open Water Swimming Conference in Los Angeles, where top coaches, organisers of Open Water events and past world champion distance swimmers got together to put forward ideas to develop this aquatic discipline.

The Open Water Classic has continued consistently since independence in 1962, with only the 1980 swim being cancelled. The Maracas Open Water Classic has continued to increase in popularity with several American athletes participating in the swim.

Last year’s race attracted World Championship bronze medallist Francis Crippen. He emerged the winner.

Dozens of foreign athletes now compete in the Maracas Open Water Classic which in 2009, was ranked among the top 100 open water swims in the world at No 55 by http://www.thewaterisopen.com. There are over 2000 open water swims held worldwide annually, and this ranking speaks volumes for the quality race that is hosted.

The Maracas Bay itself is ranked in the top 50 open water swimming areas in the Americas by popular open water blog http://www.dailynewsofopenwaterswimming.com/.

This year, Trinidad and Tobago has its first entrant at CISC in the open water swim. Stefan Sharpe won the gold medal in Cuba in only his second 5km race. His first 5km was in Barbados, and event he also won. Masters Swimmers have also done their part to ensure the art of Open Water Swimming remained alive. On June 20, 15 masters swimmers engaged in a 7km swim from Las Cuevas to Maracas. Richard Knaggs, a 52- year-old was the first to complete the course.

Therefore with the introduction of the 5km race, keen participation is expected.

Swimmers interested in the 5km race must have swum the 3000m race last year in 1 hour 15 minutes or faster, to be eligible for the 5km race.

Early registration is being encouraged to allow for the prompt start and completion of the races.