Paseo Del Saldo Inspires More To Do More
Amateur swimmers, inspired by the older professional marathon swimmers who compete on the FINA Open Water Swimming Grand Prix circuit, took their opportunity to shine in a compeition down the Río Paraná from Santa Fe to the city of Sao Tome in Argentina, called the Paseo Del Saldo. Just like the pros, each amateur was escorted by their own boat captain and coach.Alma Luquez (shown on left from above), a local youngster from Santa Fe who was motivated by the FINA Grand Prix participants, finished third in her age group.
In her first attempt at an open water competition, Luquez said, “I completed the 8 km race in 1 hour 38 minutes. I was so excited when I finally arrived! It was beautiful to see my friends and teammates encourage me from the shoreline. I am very happy to achieve my goal. Actually, I just wanted to complete the swim – that was all. But after seeing that I got third place, I decided to dedicate myself to the open water and pool.”
Overall winners in the Paseo Del Saldo distance circuit were Jorge Bordon in a time of 1:50.34 for the men and Daniela Sanchez finishing in 1:55.37 for the women. Nicolas Hamet took the win in 1:20.46 for the win in the sprint circuit on the men’s side with Ariana Gamba on the women’s side in 1:24.29.
Full results can be seen here.
Copyright © 2013 by Open Water Swimming
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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