So the LOST Race was a tremendous success again this year!!! Thanks to everyone for coming out… and to all the volunteers!!! We couldn’t have done it without all of you… so, thanks!
Lots to talk about, let me just put down a few of the highlights while I think of them:
– Bud Seawright won… only a minute off the record time! And only a week after winning the Welland 10k Open Water Race too!!! Way to go, Bud!
– Lynn Rodgers was the only person to set a new record this year… “Fastest Wetsuit – Woman”. Beating Jenn Kerr’s old time by about 3 minutes! 52:09… wow, that’s quick. 5th overall!!!
– another record was the number of swimmers… 85! The largest swimming race ever held in Lake Ontario!!! We also had the highest percentage of “naked” swimmers ever, 34% (29 of 85)… seems there may be something to this open water swimming thing afterall!!!
– big thanks to our sponsor Xterra Wetsuits for giving us such great deals on wetsuits (43 LOST swimmers have bought wetsuits so far this year! wow!) On top of that Xterra also was good enough to donate 20 wetsuit bags that were give aways at the beginning of the race… and 4 free wetsuits as well!!! (it was going to be 3, but they actually included one more, which I also raffled off!)… and the winners of the Xterra Wetsuits are:
1) fastest overall: Bud Seawright
2) nomination of the “Best Celebrity Starter”: there actually were quite a few really good ones, but I get the final say… and I chose: Anna-Marie Purvis… for nominating… Melanie Price!!! (Melanie became the first person to make the 42 km Lake Ontario Crossing from Port Dalhousie to Oakville… only the night before!!! She finished in 18:09!!! (and then showed up to help run the LOST Race only 12 hours later!… but more on that later!)
3) raffle: Jodi Frers!!!
4) raffle: Clara Northcott!!!
You can find all the results on the “LOST Race” tab above.
Thanks to everyone for showing up and enjoying the race… truly, that’s what makes it worth while! It started very small and has grown beyond my wildest expectations, I have to thank all my volunteers… I won’t name them all, only because I’d hate to miss someone! But thanks so much to all the land and sea crews!!!
One email I recieved from Shaun Chisholm after the race, among many, has one line in particular that hit home with me. You see I’ve always had a rough idea how I wanted this race to grow, but I’ve always wanted it, and LOST Swimming, to have a certain “feel”… Shawn put it well, “Great job with your race today, it was a lot of fun and has the same feel as the long-gone, grass-root triathlons!” Just the way I like it.
PS. sorry about the delay getting this and the results done… I hate it when the rest of my life gets in the way of swimming!
PPS. several people commented that they liked the quote I read at the start of the race and wanted to know more about it… that’s it posted on the right hand side of this page (LOST Philosophy)! From “Gold in the Water”… one of the most entertaining and inspirational books I’ve ever read!
Thanks everyone. See you next year… even bigger and better, keep spreadin’ the word!
Cheers,
Rob