Dr. Keith Bell, president and inspirational founder of the American Swimming Association, announced the 2010 ASA open water swimming calendar. The ASA open water swims are conducted in the beautiful hill country in and around Austin, Texas as part of Dr. Bell’s larger initiative to provide competitive opportunities for the pool and open water swimming community.

National Geographic describes Texas’s famed hill country as a bucolic, rumpled terrain marked by wooded canyons cut by spring-fed rivers…a series of colorful towns fit for dawdling…best of all, it’s quirky.

If you want to swim in clear streams and rivers running through verdant valleys with brilliant displays of wildflowers in the spring and abundant white-tail deer, Texas-size cattle, goat and sheep ranches amid small towns founded by Europeans in the mid-1800’s, then American Swimming Association provides an oasis for open water swimming within the rugged beauty of south-central Texas.

• May 2: The Money Box Cap 2k
• May 2: ASA Open Water Swimming Texas High School State Championships
• TBD: The Great Travis Trek
• October 2: ASA Open Water Swimming Collegiate National Championships
• October 9 — 7th Annual Lake Travis Relay
• October 20-24: 4th Annual Tex Robertson Highland Lakes Challenge
• October 20 — Lake Buchanan Open Water Swim
• October 21 — Tex’s Darn Challenge Open Water Swim
• October 22 — Lake LBJ Open Water Swim
• October 23 — Lake Marble Falls Open Water Swim
• October 24 — Lake Travis Open Water Swim
• November 6 — Dam 5k

If you’re in the area, don’t miss it. If you are not in the area, it is something you may consider.

Copyright © 2009 by Steven Munatones