Smith Mountain Lake Open Water Swim

Ten Marlin swimmers from four different training groups left Northern Virginia on Saturday, October 3rd for the 4th annual Smith Mountain Lake 1 mile swim.  The swim took place at Bernard’s Landing in Moneta, VA.   About 150 swimmers took part in this year’s race. 

The 1 mile swim on Sunday the 4th, was conducted in four waves of swimmers.  The first wave to swim was the 14-18 year old boys.  Competing for the Marlins in this age group were Quinn Giroux and Sean McCrone, along with about 40 other swimmers.  The second wave to go was the 14-18 year old girls.  This wave consisted of about 30 swimmers. Marlin swimmers in this group were Laura Schwartz, Ariane Emerson, Kat McGough, Maddie Carinci, Kathleen Brophy, Carolyn Rice and Katie Bracaglia.  The third wave to swim was the boys and girls ages 11-13. There were about 20 in this wave and Kayse McGough was the only Marlin swimmer in this flight.  The final wave to swim was the masters swimmers ages 19 and over.

The weather for the race was beautiful, sunny with a few clouds and air temps in the mid-70’s.  The water was calm and also in the mid-70’s. This made for good frisbee and laying out weather after the race.  Race results are still not available despite my asking for them at least 5 times so far.  You’ll just have to keep checking the race web site to see when (and if) they get posted any time soon.  www.lakerace.net

Everyone had a lot of fun at this year’s race despite arriving at the team hotel only to find out they had over booked and kicked us out.  Never fear though, we did find another hotel 20 miles back the way we came.  Thank God for minor miracles. After getting settled, we had a great dinner at Outback Steak House and then a good night’s sleep.  The kids are already looking forward to next year’s race. 

 

Coach Bill