So Steve and Bill pulled off another great race! The 2nd Annual Toronto Island Lake Swim!
Now in case you think that being a race director is hard… it is. Of course, you have all the regular things to take care of that you would at a running race… but you also have: the water! And in case that wasn’t enough, you have the ever-so-moody Lake O! And she was in one of her moods! Literally the day before the race the water temp was 50F/10C… which is very cold, and as I like to say about swimming in the 40’s… it is “crazy cold”! So Steve and Bill were worried sick about what to do. Do you cancel the swim? (after months of organizing!)… do you move the swim some place warmer? (like the Quarry in Caledon, not a small feat!)… or do you just wait and see what Lake O has in store for you on the day of? No matter what you do… there is a lot of worrying involved, because you want the best and safest race possible. So what did they do? They camped out on the island to monitor the conditions the night before!!! Now that’s dedication! And I guess the Lady of the Lake liked their dedication… because by the next morning the Lake had gone from 50F to 60F!!! Anyone who is not familiar with Lake O might find that hard to believe… and it is… but it’s also true. They just don’t make lakes that are more fickle than Lake O… which is a big reason why swimming across it is so hard. (PS. good luck to LOSTie, Rebekah Boscariol, who is attempting her second Lake O Crossing tomorrow!!! woohoo!!!) The long and short of it is… it worked out perfectly. The water was 60F.
My son, Dylan and daughter, Maisey decided to do the 1.5 km (there was a 750m, 1.5 km & 3.8km races), so I wimped out and just did the 1.5 k too. No training will do that to you. But in an effort to redeem myself from last year (when I wore a wetsuit!), I decided to go naked… as did Dylan and Maisey. Partially because we wanted to stay in the same division (naked) to earn more points for the Canadian Open Water Swim Series (COWSS.ca) from the ones we collected at The Quarry Swim and the LOST Race too! Well, to make a long story, short. They both kicked my butt.
Maisey won the women’s naked division! Bill Leonard came 1st and Dylan came 2nd in the men’s naked division… the same placing as they were the weekend before at the 3.8k LOST Race! Sheilia Treleaven won the women’s wetsuit division too! A good race for LOSTies! Congrats! Also a big congrats to my running buddy and LOSTie, France… and her daughter, Marie, who swims for the Oakville Aquatic Club and did her first open water race too! Well done! And congrats to Steve and Bill for putting on another great race!
Cheers, Rob