Polish Open Water Swimming Championships

Michal Skrodzki brought us a report on the Baltic Open Water Championships in the coastal town of Ustka at the first Polish Open Water Championships.

The two-day event was organized by the Polish Swimming Federation, Euro Medica, the City of Ustka and the Slupsk Life Saving Organisation.

On the first day of the event that also served as the Polish Open Water Championships, elimination races of 400 meters and 800 meters were held, leading up to the second day when the 600-meter final and 4 x 200-meter relays were held.

In addition to open water swimmers, several national Polish team pool swimmers participated including 2009 world 200-meter butterfly championship silver medalist Pawel Korzeniowski and Przemyslaw Stanczyk, Lukasz Giminski and Pawel Rurak. Some of Poland's best triathletes and lifeguards also took part along with Poland's best junior swimmers.

With 5,000 Polish zloty (US$1,710) up for grabs in the male and female senior divisions, the racing was intense. Living up to the pressure of being the world's second fastest butterflyer, Pawel was also to dolphin fast through parts of the shallow course and won overall. Joanna Golebiewska was first among the women.

Photo by Andrzej Bukszowany shows the men's elimination heat in the 800-meter race.

Open Water Swim Through Kiekrz

Last week, the city of Poznań in Poland held its 42nd Wpław przez Kiekrz (Swim through Kiekrz).

The Wpław przez Kiekrz race started in 1967 and was the original qualifier for the defunct Baltic Swim Marathon and is now Poland’s oldest and longest open water swim.

Many great Polish swimmers have participated in the race including Przemysław Abramowicz, Artur Wojdat (a medalist from the 1988 Seoul Olympics) and Malwina Bukszowana. In 2007, the organizers published a book celebrating the 40 years of the swim. The race includes a 100-meter children's race, a 1.5K race, a 3K race and the main 7K race while concurrently serving as the Polish championships for police and journalists.

The 3K race was the third race of the Grand Prix Wielkopolski (Greater Poland) which is a series of nine races in its third year. The 7K race was won by 17-year-old Mateusz Mosiężny in a time of 1:33:08, who took the early lead early with last year’s winner Markus Rosenkranz from Berlin. Mateusz said, "I was happy with the win, but I was focusing more on the Polish Junior Championships next weekend."

This year was also the first year the race was named in honor of Stanisław Ganczarczyk who was one of the original founders of the race and who recently passed away. I

As Michał Skrodzki says, "In a country where open water swimming has a small profile, it’s great to see such an historic swim still going around year after year. Things are on the upswing in Poland with the Grand Prix Wielkopolski gaining a major sponsor in Pizza Express. It's first prize this year is a trip for two to Egypt. So, hopefully, Polish open water swimming will only get bigger and better in Poland."

Copyright © 2009 by World Open Water Swimming Association

SharkBait and SuperFish in Lorne

Michal Skrodzki brings us a pre-race report of the 1.2K Lorne Pier to Pub race in Victoria, Australia. Organized by the Lorne Surf Life Saving Club, 4,300 swimmers are cheered on by 15,000 spectators on a tiny beach hamlet of Lorne, 150K from Melbourne.


The Pier to Pub race is featured on major news channels in Australia while Triple M broadcasts its radio program all day from the Pier to Pub with many local sports, political and TV celebrities making cameo appearances through out the day which include sporting stars, politicians and TV stars.

Swimmers in the SharkBait category (those who have swum the race more than 10 times or more) are given a priority in the entry submission. The race is split into many waves and in age categories. As Michal reports – and what our open water swimming community can appreciate – “Most people don’t enter to win but rather to conquer the course and achieve personal goals and to be able to tell their friends that they have swum the Pier to Pub. Many race their friends, family or just try to beat their time from last year and most end up at the famous pub after the race! The Lorne Pier to Pub encompasses all that is good about sport: fun, fitness and friendship are all main themes of the day.”

For the competitive swimmers, the main race begins in the mid-afternoon when the elite SuperFish category takes off (see video below). According to Michal, this year’s race may be between the pre-race favorite and 2005 champion Nick Cordner, John Van Wisse, Sam Hume, Tristan Read and Leigh Ryan among the men. On the women’s side, Harriet Brown is the pre-race favorite with Holly Burton and Emera Galletly expected to be in the running.



Upper photo by Getty Images. Lower photo by Justin McManus of the The Age.