Far from the coastlines of the West Coast, inland-located Bakersfield is still getting into open water swimming. Like their counterparts in pools from Portugal to Canada, Pool Open Water is their answer.

All of the lanes were taken out of their college pool last week in preparation for Bakersfield’s first Pool Open Water event.

The Bakersfield Aquatic Club hosted the POW event, which was free for all levels of age-group swimmers and masters swimmers. The Club also offered a free pancake breakfast for the POW swimmers.

After setting up turn buoys near the four corners of the pool, swimmers were organized into heats by ages and set off in heats. The masters swimmers and older kids swam 10 loops along the perimeter of the pool or approximately 1500 meters without flip turns. The younger swimmers either swam 2 loops or 6 loops.

The top times of the day were performed by 15-year-old Andrew Hargis with a time of 15:40, followed by Stanza Moseley with a 15:50. “We really enjoyed the event. It was a different type of challenge for the swimmers,” said Head Coach Charlie Pike. “We’re looking forward to setting up more Pool Open Water swims in the future.”

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