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2011 Purple Swim
By spokesman | August 9, 2011
Although this is a biking related blog, in the past year I have begun to do triathlons. Swimming is my weakest area so this weekend, I participated in the Purple Swim. It is an open water swim in the Chesapeake Bay near Baltimore. There were two distance options - 1 mile or 2 miles. Since the two swims were held sequentially, a swimmer could do both distances for a total of 3 miles. The 1 mile distance was enough for me.
This is the fourth year that the event has been held. It has grown from 5 swimmers in the first year to over 200 swimmers this year. The event was founded and organized by Tim Beatty to honor the memory of his father who was an avid swimmer. The purpose of the swim is to raise awareness and money to help fight pancreatic cancer. The video below has an interview with Tim and his mother that provides more details on the history of the swim.
Overall the swim was very well organized. A few more buoys along the course would have been helpful especially to me. The combination of my nearsightedness, foggy googles and choppy water sent me a bit off course. The organizers said that they would look into adding some more buoys next year. The kayakers did a great job keeping swimmers on the route and providing any help when needed. After the swim there was a big BBQ and musical entertainment. The event was held at Rocky Point Beach, where the facilities include a bath house with showers and real bathrooms (not porta-potties). The park is a nice place to hang out and many of the swimmers (and friends & family) stayed after the swim.
I highly recommend this event to anyone who wants to get some open water practice. It is a well run event and a good cause. Pancreatic cancer is fourth leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States and has one of the lowest survival rates among all major cancers. Although the swim is over, it isn’t to late to donate. See the Purple Swim website for details.
I didn’t know Bud Beatty, but I’m sure he would be proud of the event that bears his name.
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