Famous Races
Sean
Member
Having just completed another Rottnest Channel Swim, I was wondering if there is any similar swim elsewhere. When I say similar, I mean participants (2600total/360 solo), immaculate organisation (from pre race to race day safety - helicopters/boats etc), huge day on the city's calendar (similar to Boston marathon??). I have done a few other marathons, but this one is so well organised, and the buzz on the day is amazing. Would love to find another like this.
Comments
At Cottesloe (for the rotto swim), there is actually a crowd of hundreds of people watching the solos start before 6am!
At the finish at Rottnest, the crowd is about 3-4 deep. Cameramen, interviews etc... Its amazing!
RCS is pretty much unparalleled in its combination of distance, quantity of participants, and appealing point-to-point route.
El Cruce (Mexico) and the Great Chesapeake Bay Swim (Maryland, USA) also have great routes and huge participation, but are somewhat shorter.
Closest parallel I can think of would be the Travessia 14 Bis in Brazil - 24 km point-to-point with hundreds of participants and no wetsuits.
For reference, the LongSwimsDB 'Events' page is sorted by # of swims:
https://longswims.com/events/
great. thank you vm. will look into these swims!
I have done the Rottnest Channel Swim twice. Perfectly organised. In spite of the shorter distance and warmer water, I suffered way more than in my EC crossing. Second time I even ended up in the medical tent after finishing.
Milko
https://db.marathonswimmers.org/p/milko-van-gool/
It doesn't have the numbers you're talking about, but it has immaculate organization, buzz (heard interviews with famous marathoners on the radio in this city), great after party, family-like atmosphere, drones for filming it...
Yes, I'm talking about Swim the Suck.
We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams
Hi MvG ! How would you compare it to a solo crossing of IJsselmeer?
This is my next one, following this year's Rottnest and from the info gathered so far, IJsselmeer is full of surprises, from weather perspective.
KR, Bogdan
Hi Bogdan,
comparable, but very different. IJsselmeer colder, though not excessively cold. Weather can be anything, count on it being windy. IJsselmeer is a fun event, relatively small scale, volunteer skippers, and you must eat 'biefstuk met brood' or 'kroketten met broord' at Cafe Brakeboer after the race (and drink their beer). Best of luck! Milko
Milko
https://db.marathonswimmers.org/p/milko-van-gool/
THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
At this time I made all that could be done at my side, I am now waiting for the July - I reckon they have a committee that elects the participants and I hope I will be accepted. Apparently this is the rule/practice, as per Mr Cor de Bruin confirmed. If I get in, I will most surrely follow the recommendation I heard Cafe Brakeboer is a guaranteed lovely visit there. Kind regards