Oops, I, did it again...

Pictures from today's Men's 10K race at the USA 2008 Open Water World Trials.

Pre-race, women's 10K winner Micha Burden awaits getting on a boat. Micha was the feeder for 3 of her teammates who swam today. (There's a feeding station on course, so that swimmers can get food/liquids during the race. The catch is that the swimmers can't touch the boat where the stuff is, so someone needs to hand it to them. Hence Micha hanging out on a boat for the 2 hour race, as well as her having the stick in her hand.)

The men's pre-race meeting. During the meeting, the referee goes over general course layout/race plan (4 laps around the 2.5K course, there's the feeding boats, finish is over there...) and rule reminders ("I'll blow my whistle to let you know to move apart--which he did a whole lot during the race--or to indicate someone getting a yellow card--one guy did get one).

After the meeting, the swimmers headed to the starting area, either via land or water. Here, Scott Kaufmann straightens out his cap as he gets used to the water and before swimming over to the starting line. (Scott's the one in the the blue jacket in the pic above).


Here, the guys have started lining up for the start, which is about 5-6 minutes away. A few guys are still swimming over as well (they are above the line, in center frame). In this shot you can also see that the water is not smooth (due to the wind). This chop caused half the race to be into the wind (going down) and half the race to be with the wind (coming back).

And they're off!
Unlike the women's race, the referee didn't watch the start from the dock today, but rather stayed in a boat (the starter was in a boat both days). I also was a wee bit later snapping the pic, so the guys are a bit farther off the line here than the girls are... the interesting thing to me is how clear the arms in the far side of the line are (and through the splash as well).




A few more differences between the guys and girls races, which this picture shows. The guys field stayed together through most of the race; no one broke away early. So when they got to the turns, 15 guys went around them together, bunched up (like here). Also, there were more local swimmers spectating today, so the dock in the background was crowded (and sinking somewhat)--so I moved from it (also because they were talking over the announcer and not about the race...).

The staying-together of the men's field also led to their race being more physical, to the point where many of the guys emerged from the water with cuts or scrapes, and in the case of Chip Peterson, a rip in the leg of his suit...

Can't you see I am fool, in so many ways
But to lose all my senses
That is just so typically me