Karen Weir was asked by her brother to join him at the 2010 Great Scottish Swim. After her first foray in the open water, she was totally hooked.
And has never looked back.
In addition to swim in her native Scotland, she has traveled to Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, and literally from Uruguay to Argentina.
In 2015, she represented Scotland on an international relay team that swam 60 km in 20 hours across the Rio de la Plata from Colonia, Uruguay to Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires in Argentina [shown on left].
Besides making friends across the globe with her new-found passion, Weir described her passion to the Herald Scotland.
“Since taking up open water swimming, I’ve seen an improvement in my health. It may or may not be connected, but I very rarely catch a cold now and it’s a good stress-buster. No matter how my day has gone or how bad I feel, once I have been in the water I come out refreshed, happy and planning my next swim.
There are no lane restrictions, no overcrowding, no chlorine. It’s just perfect.”
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.