Okay, first things first… starting this year, in order to swim with LOST Swimming you will need to register. It’s all quite simple, print off the registration form and waiver and mail them, along with a cheque to Melanie Price. (details are on the form).
The cost is $5 if you already are a MSO member (Masters Swimming Ontario) OR $40 if you are NOT a CURRENT MSO member. (It costs $35 to register with MSO and Mel will do that for you). A screaming deal by any measure!
You can find the form on the “How to be a LOST Swimmer” tab above, or right here… REGISTRATION FORM
I hate to be a real stickler, but for insurance reasons, I’ll need everyone to register with Melanie before you can swim. I don’t want to be the bad guy and turn anyone away, so please register!
Mel will have a few forms on the beach too, so you can register on the day you swim, as long as you have the cheque or cash for $5 or $40 and the form, but it is much easier for us if you do it early!
I’ve had a few inquiries about some things I’ve been working on with various swimming organizations, so while on the topic of Registration I’ll bring you up to date.
I’ve been working with John Vadeika, the Executive Director of Swim Ontario (SO)… and Sally O’Brien, who is on the Board of Directors for Masters Swimming Ontario (MSO), to try and work out a few issues. Although John and Sally have both been quite helpful, there are still a few issues that need to be worked out… I think there is a fair bit of history and bureaucracy involved in getting things changed, so it might be a while. I’m also working with Solo Swims Ontario (SSO) to try and get a few things changed for Lake O Crossings too.
1) Allowing age-group swimmers to swim with LOST – as I’ve always said, all I’ve ever wanted was to get more people into open water swimming… Masters, wetsuits, naked, recreational, triathletes, whatever… including age-group swimmers! But that’s easier said than done. You see MSO won’t cover swimmers under 18 years old… and SO won’t recognize a MSO event. It is possible to do though, as the Open Water Provincials and the Welland Canal races prove. But Provincials is an SO swim that allows MSO swimmers (not the other way around!)… and quite frankly I don’t know how Welland does it. We could become a SO team, instead of a MSO team, but that is more costly and arduous. If it sounds confusing… it is. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. I think part of the problem is that we’re blazing a new trail in open water swimming… the other part is that there is a lot of bureaucracy involved. There is some interest to allow this to be done for the LOST Race and other races… but I doesn’t sound like anything is going to change any time soon.
2) Race day registration – currently MSO doesn’t allow race day registration, which makes sense for MSO swim meets, but not for an open water race. Virtually all swimmers going to a meet are members of an MSO club, but with an open water race like the LOST Race, more than half of the swimmers just show up for the race and are not members of an MSO team, it’s more like a triathlon that way than a swim meet. We’d obviously like as many of you pre-registered for the race, as it makes our lives (especially Mel’s!) easier, but I wouldn’t want to turn people away for the simple reason that we can’t register on race day either. We had race day registation last year (as an exception) and it went smoothly, so hopefully they will allow it in the future too. MSO is considering this change.
3) No wetsuits – currently MSO doesn’t allow wetsuits for races. We discussed this too and hopefully we can get this changed. All I want is a separate division, like we currently have in the LOST race. Obviously an important issue since the vast majority of our swimmers wear wetsuits. Either way we’ll have the division in the LOST Race, just a question of whether they recognize it. Still working on this one.
4) Four boats required for a Lake O Crossing – I addressed the Board of SSO on this one and they are considering it. I am all for safety, probably more than most people in fact. The crew of my boat in the English Channel saved my life by pulling me out as I went unconscious… but 4 boats is unnecessary and overkill. There is no other marathon swim in the world, and there are literally hundreds of them, that require more than 1 boat. (or on the rare occassion a boat and a kayak or zodiak). The problem with having 4 boats is that it makes it exceptionally difficult to arrange a Lake O Crossing… and pretty much impossible if you don’t live here. I’d like to see more people attempt Lake O Crossings and there is a lot of international marathon swimmers I know who would love to come here and do it. I’ve created LOCO (see tab above) to help with this issue… keep that in mind in case you know of any boaters that would like to join LOCO! There has been a lot of interest in LOCO from the boating community and I expect lots of new members as the season gets underway. Still working on this one and hoping SSO will help address the changes.
Anyway, that’s the status of things that I’m trying to get changed in order to promote participation in our great sport of open water swimming!!!
Cheers,
Rob
Have you considered dealing with the Ontario Association of Triathletes?
They permit wet suits and race day registration.
They also sell 1 day memberships.
This would give advantages to you.
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