Mass Starts In The Early Days Of Triathlon
Way back in the early days of multi-discipline endurance sports (i.e., the early 1980’s of triathlon), we heard that 1,200 triathletes took to the waters of Marine Stadium in Long Beach during a 1982 US Triathlon series race.1,200 triathletes – one mass start. That must have been quite a scene.
Marine Stadium will have a much more mellow start at the the 2010 USA Swimming National Open Water Swimming Championships and Open Water Pursuit races. Marine Stadium is a great place for a race, but one mass start with everyone from the elite athletes to the newcomers all going off at once made for a “particularly memorable first buoy turn” as remembered by Dr. Larry Weisenthal.
Photo shows the floating start/finish pontoon on the USA Swimming National Open Water Swimming Championship course by Sam Lafoca.
Copyright © 2010 by Open Water Source
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.
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