White Winter Wonderland In America
Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California. The United States Winter Swimming Association (USWSA) was recently established as a non-profit organization with the mission to promote the sport of winter swimming in the United States.
“Winter swimming is extremely popular in countries with colder climates and competitions in Russia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Estonia and China. Even Great Britain and South Africa events typically draw hundreds of swimmers,” describes co-founder Darren Miller. “Over 1,000 swimmers competed in the 2014 Winter Swimming World Championships which were held in Lapland, Finland this past February. In the U.S., interest in winter swimming has been growing over the past five years. The USWSA was formed to make these competitions available in the United States.“
“We are excited to announce that on February 21st-22nd 2015, the first sanctioned Winter Swimming Championship in North America will be held in Newport, Vermont on beautiful Lake Memphremagog in accordance with rules of the International Winter Swimming Association and in collaboration with Kingdom Games,” explains co-founder and long-time cold water specialist R. Cristian Vergara.
For more information, contact R. Cristian Vergara, United States Winter Swimming Association co-founder and board member at info@uswsa.org. Online registration for the Winter Swimming Championship will be available on November 1st 2014 via kingdomgames.com and uswsa.org.
To subscribe for updates and to inquire about how you can get involved with the U.S. Winter Swimming Association, email to info@uswsa.org.
Lower photo shows traditional winter swimming course in Russia that will be replicated at the Winter Swimming Championship.
Copyright © 2014 by World Open Water Swimming Association
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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