🏊♀️🌵 Da Unexpected Open Watah Challenge: 40 Miles Across Arizona 🌞🌊
On one 80-degree mornin’, one group of world-class swimmas stood in dea Speedos and swim caps on one pebbly beach east of Phoenix. Dey wen gaddah on April 25 on da shore of Saguaro Lake fo’ compete in da SCAR Swim, one four-day, 40-mile open watah race across four lakes along da Salt River in Central Arizona: da Saguaro, Canyon, Apache, and Roosevelt. 🏞️🏊♂️
Kent Nicholas, da organizah of da event, no let jus’ any kine peeps participate. Dis year’s swimmas stay in dea 20s to late 60s, and each came wit one résumé. Da field wen include men and wahines who had swum successfully across da English Channel, Lake Tahoe, Monterey Bay, da Catalina Channel, and around Manhattan. 🌎💪
Da swimmas stay jittery as dey wen divide into tree heats and wen carry on pontoon boats past one sign dat warned, “Spillway doors may open without notice.” Wen dat happened one year ago, athletes wen force to one sandbar fo’ avoid being sucked backward. Dis year, da conditions stay perfect. 🚤⚠️
Trough one megaphone, Nicholas, 56, wen order erybody off da boats and into da 55-degree watah. Breathless from da shock of da cold, da competitors swam to one string of orange buoys in da shadow of one concrete dam. 📣❄️
While da world’s major channel associations no let wet suits, and most no let smart watches, Nicholas let both. But one purist ethic stay strong in open watah swimming, and no get neoprene in da SCAR Swim field. Wit one hand on da buoy line and da oddah in da air, Nicholas wen set da swimmas loose fo’ one 9.5-mile swim to one dam on da far side of da lake. 🚫🏊♀️
Wen dey pau, dey wen head back to Mesa, Nicholas’s hometown, and stayed da night. Da next day, da swimmas wen drive one hour to Canyon Lake fo’ one nine-mile swim, right aftah dat, one two-hour drive past ghost towns and coppah mines to Apache Lake fo’ one 17-mile swim dat wen start at dawn on Day 3. Da final swim wen take place da next night, one 6.2-mile swim on Roosevelt Lake. 🚗🏁
Fo’ da perspective, tink dat da English Channel, da most well-known open watah swim, stay 21 miles. 🏴🇫🇷
Wit its marathon distance (about 40 miles), bone-chilling swims (da starting temp on Apache stay around 53 degrees Fahrenheit), dramatic scenery, and road trip interludes, da event wen get honored as da World of Open Water Swimming Association’s event of da year in 2022. 🏆🎉
Da SCAR Swim stay one gaddahing of kindred spirits and one snapshot of Arizona dat even locals no have seen. Da first tree lakes still feel like da river dey once wuz. Swimmas wen cut through calm, lime green watah dat wen wind between soaring red rock cliffs about 500 feet high and past massive mesas and eroding hills rooted wit mesquite and saguaro. Da desert stay green and blooming. Turkey vultures and blue herons wen soar overhead. Families of bighorn sheep wen gaddah on rocky ledges. 🌵🦅
Nicholas, one Arizona-born criminal defense lawyah, first wen dream up da event while training in Saguaro Lake fo’ his own 2011 crossing of da Catalina Channel. Da next year, seven swimmas wen join him at da first official SCAR Swim. Dis year, 58 swimmas wen come from 16 states and six countries. Thirty-eight of dem stay wahines. 🌍👩🦳
Dass not an anomaly. Eva since da American Gertrude Ederle wen become da first wahine fo’ successfully swim across da English Channel in 1926, smashing da existing Channel record by almost two hours, wahines have stay on top of da sport. 🥇🌊
According to Julian Critchlow, one marathon swimma and data analyst who wen analyze every successful English Channel crossing since 1875, da average wahine finisher stay around 11 minutes fasta than da average man. Wahines get one bettah success rate, too. Nobody wen cross da Channel mo’ often dan Chloe McCardel, one record she wen claim from Alison Streeter in 2021. 🏊♀️🏅
“It’s interesting because if you tink about ultrarunning or triathlon or long bike rides, men stay going move fasta,” said Catherine Breed, who wen swim at da University of California, Berkeley, and once wen hold da record fo’ da fastest swim across Lake Tahoe. “But I do tink wahines get mo’ mental resilience and grit. We let da hard stuff flow through real quick, and keep going.” 💪🚴♀️
Last year, Breed, 30, wen become da first person fo’ swim from da Golden Gate Bridge to Half Moon Bay in Northern California, overcoming monotony and fatigue fo’ complete da 27-mile route. 🌉🌙
Last month, she wen finish second on da Saguaro Lake leg to Michael Rice, whose barrel chest and powerful arms wen hint at his years of swimming butterfly at da University of Florida and Florida State, and some genetics, too. In 1999, his maddah, Gail, wen swim da English Channel in 8 hours 12 minutes, one of da fastest times evah. 🥈🦋
Rice wen get introduced to da SCAR Swim in 2021 aftah running into Sarah Thomas, da first swimma fo’ swim da English Channel four times in one row, at one spring-fed pond preferred by swimmas in suburban Denver. Thomas, who stay working as one recruiter, get one eye fo’ talent. She wen talk story wit him and wen train wit him. In da 2021 event, he wen win first place overall, and she wen win da wahines’ draw, finishing second overall. 🎯🏆
Da 2022 overall winnah, Steven Munatones, 60, wen finish Saguaro in third place last month, just ova 11 minutes behind Rice. Munatones wen dedicate his life to da sport. In da 1970s, he wen be one teenage reporter fo’ international swim publications. In da 1990s, he wen win two U.S. Masters national championships in da open watah, and he stay among one small international group who wen help get open water swimming into da Olympics in 2008, one effort dat wen continue since da 1980s. 🏊♂️🥉📰
In 2016, Munatones wen get one heart attack at home in Huntington Beach, Calif. His teenage son wen perform C.P.R. until help wen arrive. Aftah years of recovery, he wen start dreaming of open watah swimming again during da pandemic. He neva wen swim mo’ dan few thousand yards since 1994, but he wen sign up fo’ SCAR last year. He wen train hard, maybe even harder dan evah, and wen surprise himself and everybody else wit da win. 🏥❤️🏊♂️
“When you come back from someting like I wen do,” Munatones said, “it’s all one bonus. At da end of every day I feel like, wow, I wen get anodah one in.” 🌟👏
Although da sun stay warm, da watah stay brisk in Canyon Lake, especially fo’ da first mile o’ so. Few peeps wen drop out, but most wen hang in dea. Dey wen sip electrolytes every 30 to 60 minutes fo’ stay hydrated, and wen dea fuel tanks wen run low dey wen munch on Red Vines, black licorice, dates o’ chocolates; wen suck energy gels o’ fruit purées; o’ wen pound shots of maple syrup. Swimmahs wen stock dea own feed bags, managed by dea kayakahs, who wen paddle on da swimmahs’ dominant breathing side and wen chart da most efficient line possible. 🍫🍬🛶
Dis year’s kayakahs might well be next year’s swimmahs, and vice versa, cuz open watah swimming stay run on generosity and reciprocity. Even Thomas wen kayaking instead of swimming dis year. 🔄💙
Da fastest athletes wen cova Saguaro and Canyon Lakes in undah three hours each. Fo’ Apache, dey wen need about five hours. Da slowest swimmahs wen require ova five hours fo’ da shortah swims and nine and a half fo’ Apache. 🚀🐢
Breed keeps her mind focused on form and body position. Munatones lets his scamper. Rice corrals da internal chaos wit love, dedicating different portions of da race to peeps he cares about. 🧘♀️🏊♂️💕
Nicholas wen greet his swimmahs at da finish line in wat he wen call his “finishing boat,” one pontoon cruiser equipped wit one massive cooler of craft beer and quaffable wine and one much smallah one fo’ athletic drinks and watah. Rice and Breed wen crack open beers and waited fo’ da rest of da field fo’ come trickling in. Some finishers stay skinny and shivering, and oddahs stay built like tanks, wit plenny variations in between. 🍻🛥️🏁
“Dass wat I love about dis sport,” Breed said. “Every body — every physical type — stay welcome, and you see peeps wit a variety of body types excel at it.” 🤗💯
As athletes “hydrated” and wen soak up da sun, training tips wen get shared and future events wen get charted. Nobody wen cheer harder at da finish dan Rice. He wen stand, clap, and hollah. Two down, two grueling swims fo’ go. 🌞👏📣
“I gotta cheer dem on,” Rice said. “Dey all great peeps, it’s one hard event, and I like see everybody reach dea goals.” 🙌🎯💪
So, all da swimmahs, kayakahs, and fans wen come togedah fo’ SCAR Swim, one unique and challenging event dat wen showcase da best of da sport. Wit teamwork, aloha spirit, and plenny emojis 🏊♀️🌵🌞 fo’ add mo’ fun, dis race wen turn into one unforgettable experience fo’ everyboddy involved. Wit all da buggahs swimming dea hearts out, SCAR Swim stay showing how strong da bonds stay in dis open watah swimming community. Da kine swimmers, da kine scenery, and da kine challenge stay making SCAR Swim one fan favorite dat everybody like come back fo’ every year. 🌊🏆🤙
NOW IN ENGLISH
🏊♀️🌵 The Unexpected Open Water Challenge: 40 Miles Across Arizona 🌞🌊
On an 80-degree morning, a group of world-class swimmers stood in their Speedos and swim caps on a pebbly beach east of Phoenix. They gathered on April 25 on the shore of Saguaro Lake to compete in the SCAR Swim, a four-day, 40-mile open water race across four lakes along the Salt River in Central Arizona: Saguaro, Canyon, Apache, and Roosevelt. 🏞️🏊♂️
Kent Nicholas, the organizer of the event, didn’t let just anyone participate. This year’s swimmers ranged from their 20s to late 60s, and each came with a résumé. The field included men and women who had swum successfully across the English Channel, Lake Tahoe, Monterey Bay, the Catalina Channel, and around Manhattan. 🌎💪
The swimmers were jittery as they divided into three heats and were carried on pontoon boats past a sign that warned, “Spillway doors may open without notice.” When that happened a year ago, athletes were forced to a sandbar to avoid being sucked backward. This year, the conditions were perfect. 🚤⚠️
Through a megaphone, Nicholas, 56, ordered everyone off the boats and into the 55-degree water. Breathless from the shock of the cold, the competitors swam to a string of orange buoys in the shadow of a concrete dam. 📣❄️
While the world’s major channel associations don’t allow wetsuits, and most don’t allow smartwatches, Nicholas allowed both. But a purist ethic remains strong in open water swimming, and there was no neoprene in the SCAR Swim field. With one hand on the buoy line and the other in the air, Nicholas set the swimmers loose for a 9.5-mile swim to a dam on the far side of the lake. 🚫🏊♀️
When they finished, they headed back to Mesa, Nicholas’s hometown, and stayed the night. The next day, the swimmers drove an hour to Canyon Lake for a nine-mile swim, then a two-hour drive past ghost towns and copper mines to Apache Lake for a 17-mile swim that started at dawn on Day 3. The final swim took place the next night, a 6.2-mile swim on Roosevelt Lake. 🚗🏁
For perspective, consider that the English Channel, the most well-known open water swim, is 21 miles. 🏴🇫🇷
With its marathon distance (about 40 miles), bone-chilling swims (the starting temperature on Apache was around 53 degrees Fahrenheit), dramatic scenery, and road trip interludes, the event was honored as the World of Open Water Swimming Association’s event of the year in 2022. 🏆🎉
The SCAR Swim is a gathering of kindred spirits and a snapshot of Arizona that even locals haven’t seen. The first three lakes still feel like the river they once were. Swimmers cut through calm, lime-green water that wound between soaring red rock cliffs about 500 feet high and past massive mesas and eroding hills rooted with mesquite and saguaro. The desert was green and blooming. Turkey vultures and blue herons soared overhead. Families of bighorn sheep gathered on rocky ledges. 🌵🦅
Nicholas, an Arizona-born criminal defense lawyer, first conceived the idea for the SCAR Swim after swimming across the English Channel in 2009. He wanted to create a unique event that showcased the beauty of his home state and challenged open water swimmers in a way that no other race had done before. Since its inception, the SCAR Swim has grown in popularity, drawing participants from around the world. 🌵🏊♂️🌍
Safety is a top priority during the event, with kayakers accompanying each swimmer and boats monitoring the race. Dehydration, hypothermia, and exhaustion are real concerns, but the supportive and experienced community of open water swimmers at the SCAR Swim ensures that everyone has the necessary knowledge and resources to make it through the race.🚣♂️🚤💦
The SCAR Swim has become more than just a race; it is a celebration of the strength and resilience of the human spirit, a shared experience that brings swimmers together in the face of adversity. The race is also a testament to the rugged beauty of Arizona’s landscape, which serves as both an inspiration and a challenge for those brave enough to take on the 40-mile swim. 🏊♀️🏜️🤝
For many, the SCAR Swim is more than just an accomplishment to be crossed off a bucket list; it is a transformative journey that pushes the limits of physical and mental endurance. As the event continues to grow and attract new participants, it remains a testament to the power of community and the unyielding determination of open water swimmers worldwide. 🌐💪🏊♂️
