First Place for Ben, Colin, Alyssa, and Ryan at the 2023 Metro Open Water Championships

Peter Smit

September 10, 2023 - Oops! Yesterday's Metro LSC Open Water Championsships were held two weelks earlier than in previous years. And this caused a big unforseen issue. With the Rye Playland Amusement Park still open, the racing venue was closed off with a rope to keep small motor boats out, which cut the planned 1K race course in half. A new 500 meter race course needed to be setup using kayaks instead of a power boat. The start of the event was delayed by 1 hour and 20 minutes, and with the tide going out this caused the second issue with a section of the course barely deep enough to swim in. The third issue was that in the middle of the 3K and 5K race the one of the four bouys detached from its anchor, causing length of the course to change from a bit longer than 500 meter to less than 500 meter.

However, most open water competitors, including TVSC swimmers, were unfaced and kept on racing.

To prevent these issues next year, the Metro LSC Open Water Committee will be looking for new venue.

Unfortunately it will most likely not be Cedar Beach, as this would limit attendance to open water swimmers living on Long Island. Swim families living in other parts of the Metro LSC and New Jersey LSC don't want to travel through NYC to go to Suffolk County.

Results:

7:00 AM Open Water Champs venue at Rye Beach - swimmers are warming up

Genevieve (13) 3K - 4th place, Vivienne (9) 1K - 5th place, Tess (13) 3K - 10 place, Benjamin (9) 1K - 1st place, Alyssa (15) 5K - 1st place, Joey (13) 3K - 6th place, Sergei (15) 5K - 2nd place, Johnny (15) 5K - 3rd place, Colin (14) 3K - 1st place, Ryan (16) 5K - 1st place