Event Name: Bring on the Bay
Event Date: July 13, 2024
Location: Nepean Sailing Club, Ottawa
Synopsis: Tons of fun for swimmers and triathletes looking to see if they can do the distance. With RunK2J members swimming: Kanako, Wilson, Chris, Karen, Judy, Helene. As well, lots of other Ottawa friends: Debbie, Cheryl, Brenda from 9RunRun, Len Ireland, and more.
Briefly describe the overall venue & course: Swim the classic 3K open water swim from Nepean Sailing Club to Britannia Yacht club, or the 1.5K starter that begins at Surfers Beach in Britannia. With 800 swimmers registered, still the 2nd largest open water swim in Canada!
How was the weather? At 8AM, the weather started great: blue sky and almost no wind with little chop on the water.
My Experience
OK, so I did not race/swim this event, but was involved in some of the setup for Bushtukah, and handing out with my friends & buddies that are currently running this event. With both Judy and myself stepping back from organizing the event, she could swim the regular race, and also collect her 10-year accomplishment permanent number. After arriving at 6:00am to setup the Bushtukah Starting Arch, I had time to scurry around and help out where there was need to get things underway. Tons of safety boats, watching the dock cleanup, and seeing the marks and keelboats heading out always impresses me with the logistics unfolding to make this event happen.
The Elite start is always fun, and for the first time, got to see it from the dock. The 40 selected swimmers were stoked, and got into the water for their mini-mass start. These folks are amazing, and when the start gun went off, churned out into the water to race the 3K to BYC. I think the top times were 37 minutes or so, and some fairly talented folks in the water.
Age groupers came next, and they marched out onto the dock, marshalled by the ‘dock police’ so not to overload the flotation of the docks themselves. Tried my best to see everyone getting into the water, but let’s be honest – folks looks quite similar with their swim caps, goggles, and (optional) wetsuits. Did not even manage to see Judy jump into the water, though did catch a few swimmers from our club and friends hopping in.
Once everyone left, we did a cleanup of the start, and when that was done, I zipped over to BYC, where the finish area was. Using my ‘status’ as a former race organizer, I did manage to zip to the pier at BYC to become an unofficial photographer, as well as greeter to the swimmers. While there, I also helped marshal in some DNFs from the water, collect chips, and hand them off to the folks in charge. Judy and I did hand out at the pier for a while, and she also got to catch up with other friends there helping out: arriving swimmers were under the watchful eye of Sharon who is a capable swimmer and triathlete.
Seeing everyone at the finish was fun, and there were smiles all around. It was a good day on the water, and I’d say everyone was quite pleased with their accomplishments. We could not dilly dally too long, as Judy and I had to be in Utica for Boilermaker tomorrow (and pickup race kits today), so we departed by 10:30ish, to start the drive to Utica and meet the gang there.
Overall, great day, lots of smiles in the finishing area at BYC.
Run K2J 