Craig Dietz Adapts To Marathon Swimming With NEKOWSA
Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.
The 2017 Northeast Kingdom Open Water Swimming Association (NEKOWSA) swim season includes the following events:
* Son of a Swim on July 1st (2 miles, 4 miles, 6 miles)
* Georgeville or Bust on July 15th (15 miles)
* 9th annual Kingdom Swim on July 29th (25 km Border Buster, 10-mile WOWSA Championships, 10 km, 5 km, 1-mile, 100-yard and 1/4-mile swims)
* Crystal Lake Swim on August 12th (5 miles)
* Island Pond Swim on August 13th (4 miles)
* Echo Lake Swim on August 14th (1 mile, 3 miles)
* Lake Seymour Swim on August 15th (3.5 miles)
* Lake Massawippi Swim on August 16th (4 miles)
* Lake Memphremagog Swim on August 17th (4 miles)
* 8th Annual Willoughby Swim on August 19th (5 miles)
* Caspian Lake Swim on August 20th (3 miles)
* In Search of Memphre VII on September 11th (25 miles)
* Vampire Swim (Vermont) on October 28th
Next year, as in years past, NEKOWSA offers both the Canine Division and the Adaptive Division for dogs and physically challenged athletes.
This July, the Limbless Waterman, Craig Dietz completed his first marathon swim when he finished the Kingdom Swim in 4 hours 12 minutes.
Born without arms or legs, Dietz has gradually stepped up his swimming achievements that now include his marathon swim in Lake Memphremagog. Dietz is the embodiment of the oft-spoken marathon swimming adage: Anything is possible if you put your mind to it. “He is clearly defined not by the physical challenges he faces, but how he has faced the challenges he meets. A man with a sense of mission, humility, humor, and a hunger to succeed, Dietz is an athletic, undulating relentlessly to achieve his aquatic – and dryland – goals,” writes Steven Munatones who has seen Dietz compete from South Africa to California.
Dietz was nominated for the 2016 World Open Water Swimming Performance of the Year. Dietz and his fellow nominees all embody the spirit of open water swimming, are representative of the sense of adventure, tenacity and perseverance that open water swimmers are known for, and very much positively influenced the world of open water swimming in 2016.
1. Toshio Tominaga (Japan) Tsugaru Channel Crossing
2. Craig Dietz (Kingdom Swim Marathon Swim)
3. Sarah Thomas (USA) Lake Powell Crossing
4. Jennifer Figge (USA) Bermuda Triangle Swim
5. Pieter Christian Jongeneel Anderica (Spain) Double Manhattan Circumnavigation
6. Dan Canta (Romania) Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming
7. Sean Conway (Great Britain) Swim Leg of the World’s Longest Triathlon
8. Hudson Brothers (Great Britain) Into the Maelstrom
9. Cristian Vergara (Chile) Easter Island Circumnavigation
10. Jarrod Poort (Australia) Olympic 10K Marathon Swim
11. Javier Mérida Prieto (Spain) Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming
12. Patrick McKnight (USA) Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming
13. Spyridon Gianniotis (Greece) Olympic 10K Marathon Swim
14. Malvinas/Falklands Islands Challenge by Matías Ola (Argentina) and Jackie Cobell (Great Britain)
15. Stephanie Hopson (USA) English Channel Crossing
16. Carol Schumacher Hayden (USA) Catalina Channel Crossing
17. Vasilly Mosin (Russia) Winter Swimming
To vote for the WOWSA Awards, visit here. Online voting continues until December 31st 2016.
For more information on the NEKOWSA swims, begin your exploration at www.kingdomswim.org.
Upper photo shows Guri Bosch swimming 5 miles in the 2016 Lake Willoughby Swim alongside her coach Bethany Bosch. Lower video from ESPN showcases earlier in his open water swimming career.
Copyright © 2016 by World Open Water Swimming Association
