An analysis by Open Water Source of the field at this Sunday’s RCP Tiburon Mile shows the prestigious professional race is…pretty average.

That is, 41% of the swimmers are female – which is near the overall U.S. average for female participation. The average woman’s age is 33.2 years while the men average is 36.7 years.

In the cool waters of the San Francisco Bay, 54.4% of the field will not be wearing a wetsuit while 45.6% of the field will tough it out. Of the women, 48.5% will be wetsuit-clad. Of the men, 43.7% will be wetsuit-clad.

In an interesting comparison, the approximate 500 members of the Irish Long Distance Swimming Association, the breakdown is 60% male and 40% female which is consistent with their northern Californian open water colleagues. But the growth in female participation in Ireland has been relatively greater as the female percentage was previously only 20% four years ago.

Copyright © 2011 by Open Water Source