Well that was pretty cool. That seemed to go really well and everyone had fun. What more could you want.
Well maybe the results… so here they are, before we get started: LOST Race results, (2013)
Well, based on last year all we wanted was decent weather! If you happened to be at the race last year you’ll recall we had quite rough water and stormy weather. Not ideal by any stretch. But we got through it and made up for it this year!
Blue skies and sunny. Flat and… a bit chilly water. 63F, okay… a bit chillier than perfect, but pretty darn close… and significantly nicer than the 57F we had last weekend (but not as nice as the 74F the weekend before… but that’s Lake O for you!).
I have to admit I get much more nervous as a race director than I ever did as a swimmer. Safety and organization are the two big ones, of course. Then you just hope everyone has fun… which, if the first two are taken care of, then the fun generally takes care of itself. I have to brag a bit this year about our safety… the best we’ve ever had and something I felt very comfortable with. The brag part is more just bragging about having all the great volunteers that made it work like clockwork!
Joe on the water was key. He got us 12 kayaks, 4 SUP’s (stand up paddle boards, for those of you not hip to the lingo just yet!), 2 zodiacs, one great pontoon boat that was perfect for the control boat… and Bill set up the course… with about 30 buoys! Awesome. Hey if you couldn’t see where you were going on that course you needed to clear your googles! 😉
Then there was the land logistics and Darren did a great job getting all that in place… I’d like to thank each land volunteer (so thanks!)… but I know you just want to hear about the race!
They were off like a shot… well more like fireworks actually (a little add on I thought of in the off season… and I think that was a keeper!). I think everyone was happy to get moving, as the water was chilly… not quite cold… but not balmy… good for racing!
As you might have seen in the results, we had 94 entrants and with the DNS’s, we had 86 start the race… and 100% finish! Our second biggest group, next to last year, but to be quite honest, around 100 is a good number to have. Enough that it’s fun to race for the 
swimmers… but not so big that it’s a nightmare for the organizers. If it stayed around this size, I’d be fine with that. Actually, it will be interesting to see how Steve and his crew do next weekend at the first “Toronto Island Swim”, they have a 1.5k race and a 3.8k race, so we’ll see if they beat our number for the 3.8k! (I didn’t get to swim our race… so I’ll be swimming his!).
So as soon as the swimmers were gone, we packed up all the tents and equipment and drove as quickly as we could to the finish… and barely had all the things set up when the first swimmer was approaching… about 45 minutes later!
As I said in the pre-race meeting, I know Richard’s 3k race in Ottawa, “Bring on the Bay”, has grown like crazy (good work Richard!) and is much bigger than ours (albeit shorter too), but I have to admit we do have a pretty cool crowd in our race too. We had swimmers who have swum the English Channel, Lake Ontario Crossings, Manhattan Island Marathon Swims, one who 
swam the Catalina Channel last week (atta boy, Steve Faulkner!), a former Olympian and Paralympian, some Canadian Varsity swimmers, and some NCAA Div 1 college swimmers from the US, we also had tons of Ironmen and Masters swimmers and we even had a few Aussies out for good measure! But, as I also said in the meeting, we also have just a lot of regular people who love open water swimming… and ultimately that’s where this whole club started… and thankfully the culture has continued… regardless of speed and accomplishments… just a bunch of friends who think it is pretty cool to swim in the Lake on a nice, sunny Saturday morning! Pretty grass roots… and that’s alright by me.
Anyway, back to the race. As we scrambled to get the carpet laid out in time for the first swimmer, he approached the finishing buoy! And the winner was… Owen Von Richter! A former Olympian in 400 IM in the Sydney Olympics… and he finished in 44:55… and a new course record! Beating Dylan’s previous record of 46:05 in 2009. The fastest naked man was Miguel Nascimento with a time of 53:14… and a Paralympian that was swimming in London this time last year!
Just kidding… you’re all winners!
Interestingly, first, second and third were the only 3 people that have ever won this race… Owen once, Bud last year and Dylan for 4 years! Fast company. In fact, this was a fast year, although I didn’t notice there was any current with us… the median time was 1:07… that’s fast for 3.8k. Certainly faster than the median time in an Ironman… but then again… we’re all swimmers!
The winning woman was naked (yes, I know how that sounds… it means non-wetsuit of course, but it’s more fun to say… it never gets old!) was Ellisa Gelleny, in 50:53! With a new course record too! Beating Lisa Neidrauer’s time of 58:00 in 2010 (and technically beat the fastest wetsuit woman, Lynn Roger’s record too! 52:09). Lynn did win the fastest wetsuit woman again though with 51:48 and beat her own record too!
Behind all the division winners and placers came the rest… and a lot of happy faces… (or at least people who finished with grimaces that looked like smiles!).
And then we had Brett.
So in case you’ve ever thought “ya, but he’s fast” about anyone. And “it’s easy for him because he’s so talented” about anyone, let me correct you. Yes, we are all of varying degrees of talent… but everyone pays the piper. And Brett paid on Saturday.
Brett came dead last. But I mean that in a good way! You see he’s more accustomed to coming in first. What a trooper… that wasn’t easy. You see Brett is an awesome Ironman… in fact, we all think he’s got a very good chance to get to the Ironman World Championships in Kona this summer… and unlike some of the great triathlete’s who are awesome cyclists and runners… but just fake the swim… Brett’s actually become a very good swimmer (just a smidge behind me, so I have to say he’s fast!). But he’s not much of a cold water swimmer. Typical Ironman… he’s got zero % body fat. And he doesn’t usually train without a wetsuit. And was curious to see if he could do the distance without a wetsuit, since Kona disallows wetsuits. The problem with that logic is that Kona disallows wetsuits because the water is too warm… something that wasn’t really an issue yesterday. It was about 25 degrees colder than Kona would be!
So Brett finished… the hard way. By shaking pretty hard. And as I’ve always maintained, hypothermia can be very dangerous (I know from training to become quite hypothermic for various cold water marathon swims and from almost dying from it… twice… but that’s another story)… but the nice thing about hypothermia is that it is pretty easy to treat. You remove the Brett from the cold… you put the Brett in something warm (like a van with all the windows closed on a hot summer day)… and then you let the Brett spoon with his wife for a half hour. Then he’s up and at it (with a big ol’ grin) and taking a good hearted ribbing from all his buddies! Gutsy swim, buddy!… (you wetsuit wimp! 😉 )
Anyway, a picture is worth a thousand words… so I’ll save myself some typing and you more reading and just let you look at the great pics that I got from: Jill, Patrick, Helene, Mike, Lamb and Lynn!
PS. A special thanks to: Cadence Price… for hand baking all those cookies (could it get more grass-roots than that!)… Joe for running the water volunteers… Darren for running the land volunteers… Mel for running the registration (and pretty much everything really!)… Frank and his crew for raising money for the Swim for Mental Health and giving us a great raffle with awesome prizes… Mike Howes and his crew from SUPTO.ca, for coming out on the paddleboards… Stephen Cull and CharterAbility for letting Joe have the most awesome Control Boat on the Lake… Bill for building the buoys (seriously!) and setting the course before the crack of dawn… and Alex on the zodiac too… Margaret Dorio and the Tri Club of Burlington (TCoB) for the tent (which the swimmers loved to use to spot with!)… and all the kayakers (they are key!!!)… and Tyler for not injuring himself on his SUP!… and to Xterra wetsuits who donated all the prizes (which are on their way!)… and Duane for being the most cheerful, under-used, valuable guy out there (he was to pick up anyone in his car who dropped out, but everyone made it this year!)… and Miguel for stepping up and learning how it’s all done… and Loren for taking the unglamourous but important job of bag check… and Mathew and Andrew for being my minions… and to Lamb for having the toughest job out there, spooning with Brett (okay and timing too!)… and Jo, for having the second toughest job out there, putting up with me in the days leading up to the race… oh and for helping Lynn and Mel at registration… and to Mel, for finding Claudia’s car keys!… and a special thanks to all the volunteers that I forgot to mention and will feel bad about forgetting to mention after I put this up.
And thanks to the swimmers… for coming out and enjoy a dip in the Lake!
Cheers,
Rob