Listen Live To A World Open Water Record Attempt

The Flowers Sea Swim is really outdoing itself at Saturday's upcoming mile race in the Cayman Islands. Not only are numerous Olympic champions (including Ryan Lochte and other Olympics gold medalists) are attempting to break the men's and women's world record for a one-mile open water swim, but the event is also giving away US$30,000 if the record is broken.

The Flowers Sea Swim is also randomly giving away over US$100,00 in cash and prizes to participants in the 17th annual race.

But, most interestingly for open water swimmers and fans worldwide, DMS Broadcasting stations 96.5 Cayrock, Hot 104.1, 106.1 Kiss FM and X107.1 will cover this world record attempt live on Saturday, June 20th. Each radio station will be set up at quarter-mile marks along the Seven Mile beach and will broadcast live as the race unfolds starting at 2:30 pm Cayman Islands time.

To learn what time 2:30 pm in the Cayman Islands is in your time zone, click here.

"I am proud that this has become such a highlight of the local sporting calendar – it promotes healthy living and guarantees a fun day for all. Whether you are a recreational or competitive swimmer, you can still have fun – it’s about getting out there and participating," commented Dara Flowers. "Irrelevant of where you place, first or last – everyone is eligible to win from the fantastic prizes up for grabs."

We are almost tempted to grab an airline ticket to the Cayman Islands...but the live radio coverage is a great way to enjoy the great race online.

A Must-Do Open Water Swim

The Flowers One Mile Sea Swim is bringing into big-time money and big-time swimmers to its 17th annual race in the Cayman Islands on June 20th.

NCAA champion Shaune Fraser, who will be swimming at home, is one of the pre-race favorites.


But Shaune will be facing an All-Star field including his NCAA champion teammate Bradley Ally, his brother and NCAA champion relay swimmer Brett Fraser and Olympic medalists Ryan Lochte, Anthony Nesty, Ian Crocker, Neil Walker, Rada Owen and Kristy Kowal.

Not only will these top swimmers compete for US$5,000 given to the individual who breaks and sets the current course record, but also for US$25,000 given to the individual who breaks the world's best open water swimming one-mile ocean record.

The world's best for the ocean one-mile is 16:00 minutes for the men and 17:21 for the women. American Olympian Chad Carvin holds the current men's Flowers Sea Swim record of 17:20 and 3-time Olympic gold medalist Brooke Bennett holds the women's course record of 18:13 (shown on the Wheaties cereal box).

Additionally, the Flowers Group is randomly giving away US$100,000 in cash and prizes to anyone who enters before race day on June 20th.

So even if you do not set the world or course record, you still have a chance at some valuable prizes. FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee chairman Sid Cassidy says, "The Flowers Family ALWAYS puts a GREAT race and celebration together ... if you've never been, put it on your list of must do's!" The prizes include trips to London, trips to Australia, trips to Toronto, cellular phones and 140 randomly drawn prizes.

The opportunities - to swim with the world's best and to compete for fabulous cash prizes and awards - is unheard of in today's open water swimming world.

Lochte in Lucky's Lake

Three-time Olympic champion Rowdy Gaines is a confirmed guest at the Lucky's Lake Swim aka Aquatica 1K Swim on May 2nd in Lake Cain near Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.

2008 Olympic champion and world record holder Ryan Lochte may also attend the event.

Photo shows Ryan in the middle of his teammates winning the Olympic gold medal and setting a world record at the 2008 Beijing Olympics

The Joy of Victory in the Pool and Open Water

The exuberance of the Olympic medalists is a joy to see. The world's photographers truly captured the swimmers' triumphant exhilaration at the Olympics.

Swimming World Magazine’s October 2008 issue with Michael Phelps on the cover shows pages and pages of photos of ecstatic swimmers. Arms raised, fists clenched, shouts of joy and the adrenaline of Olympic victory can beautifully captures.

In stark contrast, the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim medalists appeared to be totally spent after they finished their races. There were no smiles, no arms raised to the sky and certainly no jumps for joy immediately after the finish. Instead, when the marathon swimmers cross the finish pads and swim to the dock, they gave a quiet acknowledgement through eye contact, exchanged respectual hand shakes and meak smiles with their competitors and the crowd.

The temperate joy of the open water swimmers shown at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park in Beijing was definitely much different than the exuberance shown by the pool swimmers in the Water Cube.

“We gave it all we had,” explained Thomas Lurz of Germany, the bronze medalist in Beijing. “Open water swimming is so much different than swimming in the pool. We swim hard for two hours and have no more energy left. But, when we win an Olympic medal, we are happy inside.”

Giving it all one has…a mantra that is well-known to solo, channel and open water swimmers worldwide.

Upper photo of Peter Vanderkaay, Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte after the 4 x 200 freestyle relay by Simon Bruty of Sports Illustrated.

Lower photo of Olympic 10K gold medalist Maarten van der Weijden by Pei Qingsheng.

The Fifth Stroke in Open Water

Michael Phelps is the master of the Fifth Stroke. The Fifth Stroke is most visibly and efficiently utilized by swim stars such as Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte and Natalie Coughlin. These swimmers use a powerfully efficient undulating underwater butterfly kick to blast off the wall.

"You cannot succeed without this skill," said Mark Schubert, America's Olympic Swim Team Head Coach and General Manager. "There are now five strokes. The fifth stroke is the underwater dolphin kick."

"It's a weapon," echoed Jonty Skinner, the former world record holder in the 100 freestyle who is responsible for technical services for the US Olympic and national swim teams.

In a similar way, open water swimming also has a "Fifth Stroke", especially when one considers the 4-loop rectagular course of the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim that will have a total of 16 buoy turns.

And these buoys are large. Some open water swimmers like them - and others do not.

"You are all swimming in a pack and you don't have a lane to yourself so it is a very physical sport and you do swim on top of each other and get the odd fist in the face and that sort of thing," said Britain's David Davies, one of the medal favorites.

But, just as Michael Phelps separates himself from his competition at the turns in the pool, the best in the open water also use the turn buoys to their significant advantage.

The strategy for great turns in world-class open water races happens long BEFORE the turns, when the best swimmers start to position themselves for the best line or inside line. They speed up or change positions up to 200 meters before they hit the buoys.

Other experienced swimmers use a twisting move where they combine freestyle and backstroke strokes to quickly "corkscrew" themselves around the buoys,

Swimmers can easily get squeezed and lose valuable time at the buoys. In this photo, Grant Hackett (in the green cap) positioned himself well and captured the inside line while Spyridon Gianniotis (in the blue and white cap) is out of position, forced to take a much wider turn.

In the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim course in Beijing, there will be 16 turns. The turns offer a great opportunity to separate from one's competitors - or get left out of position and lose valuable time and distance. The medalists will be among those with the best Fifth Stroke.Top photo by Olympic 10K Marathon Swim of Getty Images by Michael Phelps in the 200-meter butterfly semifinal at the 2004 Olympic Games.

Middle photo by Javier Blazquez at the 2008 World Open Water Swimming Championships.

Bottom photo of the 5K start at the 2003 World Swimming Championships was taken by Dr. Jim Miller.



Footnote: Back at the 2003 World Swimming Championships in the men's 5K race when the open water swims started in the water, some swimmers were also using an undulating butterfly kick to start. Notice swimmers in the middle of the pack off the start.

Mark's Mission - Part 4

Mark Warkentin of the Santa Barbara Swim Club was asked a series of questions prior to departing for Beijing for the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim. Here are his first-person answers:

Q3. Your teammates are an incredible bunch: Michael Phelps, Aaron Peirsol and Ryan Lochte. Do they ever talk about open water swimming with you? If so, what do they ask you? Do you think any of those guys would be great open water swimmers?

A3. Yeah, they ask me questions. They have a sort of morbid curiosity about open water swimming. Everyone wants to know: why do you do it? What do you think about? How do you make the Olympics? How do you break from the pack? Those guys are all so talented, they can be successful in whatever distance they swim, but I think they are going to stick with the pool. [wide smile]

Photo of Mark screaming with joy after winning the USA Swimming National 25K Championships in Ft. Myers, Florida.

The Dream Team in the Pool

The U.S. Olympic Swim Team, including open water swimmers Chloe Sutton and Mark Warkentin, held a media day at its morning workout in Stanford University.

Over 300 reporters from Access Hollywood to Swimming World Magazine crowded the pool decks in its last opportunity to shoot and interview the Olympians until they complete their swims in Beijing.

The workout can only be described as an aquatic version of the 1992 Dream Team with Magic, Michael and Bird with…

Natalie Coughlin in lane 1 working on IM.

Dara Torres in lane 3 working on her technique.

World-record holder Margaret Hoelzer in lane 4 with double gold medalist Megan Jendrick.

Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps going head-to-head in lanes 5-6, pushing each other to heights unknown to any other IM'er.

Over in the distance lanes, 10K marathon swimmer Mark Warkentin was working out with Peter Vanderkaay, Erik Vendt, Klete Keller and Larsen Jensen. See photo above.

By the time, Larsen had thrown down a 7:55 in an 800 free, the sprinters had started to warm up: Matt Grevers, Cullen Jones, Jason Lezak and Ben Wildman-Tobriner.

In the other pool, the University of Texas swimmers – Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen and Scott Spann continued their training regimen under head men’s Olympic coach, Eddie Reese.

Likewise, Amanda Beard, Kate Ziegler and Katie Hoff powered their way on their own sets.

On the pool deck, a Who’s Who of American swimming coaches were guiding the swimmers: Mark Schubert, Bob Bowman, Gregg Troy, Frank Busch, Jack Bauerle and Teri McKeever.

Schubert described the training of America’s top female open water swimmer with its greatest pool swimmers, “It’s great. Chloe now sees herself on the same level of the rest of the team and appreciates what she has accomplished and what she can, hopefully, accomplish in other Olympics in the future.”

Photo of Mark Warkentin, Larsen Jensen and Klete Keller by Colin A Gift at the USA Olympic Swim Team Media Day at Stanford University.

Copyright © 2008 by World Open Water Swimming Association