2013 USMS 10K National Open Water Championships- Las Vegas
kmh20
Member
If you need an excuse to come to Vegas for the weekend, here it is!
SATURDAY MAY 18, 2013
10K National Championships • 5K • 1 Mile Open Water Swims
Registration is now open for the LV10K!
http://www.LV10K.com
The swims takes place in Lake Mead, home to the Hoover Dam just a short drive outside of Las Vegas, NV. Water temp is expected to be a comfortable 74º (23ºC). Participants will receive a silicone cap, event shirt, awards, a cupcake and a post race massage!
Early bird pricing ends 3/31.
www.lv10k.com
SATURDAY MAY 18, 2013
10K National Championships • 5K • 1 Mile Open Water Swims
Registration is now open for the LV10K!
http://www.LV10K.com
The swims takes place in Lake Mead, home to the Hoover Dam just a short drive outside of Las Vegas, NV. Water temp is expected to be a comfortable 74º (23ºC). Participants will receive a silicone cap, event shirt, awards, a cupcake and a post race massage!
Early bird pricing ends 3/31.
www.lv10k.com
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Comments
...anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
If you are looking for a more scenic race, our other event Slam The Dam has an 8k point to point and takes place in October. There are zero buoys for the first 2 miles. You'll need a kayak escort for Slam, but not the LV10k.
www.Slamthedam.com
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=348857381874907&set=pb.348852725208706.-2207520000.1364585377&type=3&theater[img][/img]
I've done the Vegas half marathon twice and the marathon once. Big fun.
Despite everything that has happened with USMS open water events, the folks at Las Vegas Swim did a nice job with this event.
Highlights
A beautiful day with air temperatures climbing into the 90's
Water temp was at the sweet spot, officially 72F, a couple channel swimming veterans and I thought it was a little cooler but doesn't really matter as it felt great.
The Lake Mead water was much clearer then I expected which made positioning and drafting easy.
The course itself was an elongated Tee 2500 meters in length. There were some minor downsides to this. Generally if you kept left of the course buoys it mostly good however there was some near head on collisions that a more rectangular course would have eliminated. At then end of each loop for all practical purposes swimmers had to exit the water on a gentle sloping boat ramp to access the feed area and come through the scoring loop. It's a bit frustrating watching the younger and leaner swimmers that you'd had no problem pacing with in the swim, scamper in and out while this fifty plus guy with 20 extra pounds had to stand up slowly to avoid cramping and regain land equilibrium. I would have preferred a in water feeding set up.
I didn't really get a chance to talk with any of the race organizers so I don't know if any of the course characteristics and feed area was a result of the new insurance requirements but I speculate it might have been. Overall a very nice race, an excellent venue at least this time of year.
Just a side note, I think Lake Mead is a good choice for spring swim training for anyones upcoming summer marathon swims. One can catch a flight to Vegas from almost anywhere U.S., lodging is relatively in expensive, Boulder beach has easy access.
I'm bumping this thread up because I can't find anything else about it. I've checked the lv10k website but I can't find the info I'm looking for...does anyone know if they're going to be resurrecting this event in 2016? The website says the organizers are taking a break in 2015. I'm thinking it would be a good fit for my first 10k but I don't know if I should get my hopes up.
The area where they used to start the 8K for Slam the Dam has deteriorated to the point that it's not safe to access the water from there, so that was the reason given behind Slam the Dam going away. I entered in 2013 and thanks to the government shutdown, the race was cancelled and we weren't able to get anywhere near the lake. In the future, I'd be leery of spending much money/energy to plan for a swim on Federal govt. property, due to the insanity of politics in DC.
I'd imagine that the lack of water in Lake Mead has become a problem for the future of open water swims there. Applegate Lake (OR) was cancelled this year due to low water and several other races in OR suffered from low water levels. 10K USMS Nationals are schedule for Applegate Lake next year...I hope they get enough rain.
If I was planning another expensive trip to swim, I'd be looking for something that had a very low probability of getting cancelled.
It's always a bad hair day when you work at a pool.
Thanks for the info, that's disappointing to hear that things have gotten so bad with water levels, and that must have really sucked to have your race cancelled!
LV would be one of the cheaper places for me to go...I have a relative that I can stay with and I don't gamble and I have enough air miles to get there. I guess I missed my opportunity by a few years.
Anyone going to Applegate Lake, OR this weekend for 10K Nationals? Come say hi if you are attending. I'll wear my MSF shirt.
It's always a bad hair day when you work at a pool.
Good luck on your swim Wendy. I will be doing Fat Salmon this weekend which is my first "dipping of the toe" into the world of distance swimming. I'm exited to see how it all goes. I'm sure you are going to have a great time swimming a 10K in a beautiful setting like Applegate Lake.
Good job on the Fatty, Curly! I didn't have a stellar swim at Applegate, (10 minutes slow, for me) barely slept the night before and never felt great. Apparently all the yelling and boats roaring off at 3am was required for a bAss tournament happening on the lake. Conditions were nice, water was about 73, although the wind picked up a bit during the 3rd lap. Any swim involving a group campout is fun (highly recommended) and Applegate is no exception. I had a blast catching up with the OMS gang and making new friends. The MSF shirt generated some interesting conversations too.
It's always a bad hair day when you work at a pool.
A bass tournament... great timing. My in laws live on a lake that has the occasional tournament. My first time there when it happened, I couldn't imagine what all this boating at zero dark thirty was. Well as they say, a bad day of swimming is still better than a good day of bass fishing...