Traversee Internationale Du Lac Memphremagog Starts
The 25 professional marathon swimmers including Olympic medalists Richard Weinberger of Canada and Martina Grimaldi of Italy promptly began their 34 km Traversee internationale du lac Memphremagog this Saturday morning under terrifically windy conditions.
There are storm clouds off in the distance approaching quickly as the water temperature holds steady at 22 degrees C.
The safety protocols are in place and the entire race organization is prepared for the worse.
In the case a storm hits, all the athletes will be protected by divers and then picked up by a large security patrol boat.
Meanwhile the coaches and handlers on the water will be instructed
to head immediately to shore with their escort boat pilots.
They will
wait out the storm on land until ground crews come to pick them up.
As the skies gets increasingly darker even in the morning hours, the
pack of men and women are hanging together like a large school of fish.
Apparently there is safety in numbers and comfort is sensed in a large pack, at least for the first few hours.
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.