POLAND. Tomasz Pąchalski, the organizer of BCT Gdynia Marathon (Morski Maraton Pływacki BCT Gdynia) in Poland, announced a new professional marathon swim from the Hel Peninsula to the city of Gdynia in Poland, offering a US$10,000 first prize for both men and women.
The new 18.5K event will take place August 24-26 2012, soon after the 2012 London Olympics. “The BCT Gdynia Marathon is the first of its kind – a major open water swimming event – in Poland for a long time. We would like to invite open water swimmers from all over Europe and other continents as well,” explained Tomasz.
“Our priority is safety of our competitor, so we decided to limit the field 35 athletes. The expected temperature of the water is rather low (16-18°C), so it very important to have experienced open water swimmers.”
Gdynia is a large coastal city in Gdańsk Bay on the south coast of the Baltic Sea. Hel Peninsula is a long 35K sand bar separating the Bay of Puck from the Baltic Sea.
Southern California native, born 1962, is the creator of the WOWSA Awards, Oceans Seven, Openwaterpedia, Citrus Corps, World Open Water Swimming Association, Daily News of Open Water Swimming, Global Open Water Swimming Conference. He is Chief Executive Officer of KAATSU Global and KAATSU Research Institute. Inductee in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Swimmer, Class of 2001) and Ice Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Contributor - Media, Class of 2019), recipient of the International Swimming Hall of Fame's Poseidon Award (2016), International Swimming Hall of Fame's Irving Davids-Captain Roger Wheeler Memorial Award (2010), USA Swimming's Glen S. Hummer Award (2007, 2010) and Harvard University's John B. Imrie Award (1984). Served on the FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee and as Technical Delegate with the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games, and 9-time USA Swimming coaching staff. Note: WOWSA only recommends products or services used or recommended by the community. WOWSA does not receive compensation for links or products mentioned on this site or in blog posts. If it does, it will be indicated clearly on that specific post. See WOWSA's privacy policy for more information.