Open-water swimming is the aquatic equivalent of an unplugged concert.
A purist’s dream, it is swimming in its most natural state. It can take place in almost any body of water, be it an ocean, lake, river, channel or strait – anywhere except a pool. And it is stripped of all the high-tech devices usually associated with the sport; there are no lane markers, starting blocks, touch pads or lap cards, not to mention precisely measured lengths or consistent depths. Wet suits are banned, water temperatures are variable and jellyfish are bothersome.
While most pool swimmers would balk at racing in brown, 60-degree, unchlorinated, debris-filled water, that was just part of the challenge that awaited Northwestern sophomore Erica Rose at the 2002 Yangtze River Speed-Crossing Competition earlier this month.
It was fitting that in her first river race, during her first trip to China, Rose became the first and only foreigner to win the annual competition held in Wuhan, China, on May 1.
“I wasn’t used to the cold water and I was covered in dirt when I got out, but the current was the biggest challenge,” Rose said. “If you didn’t swim fast enough it would push you too far downstream and you’d miss the finish.”
In fact, out of 200 swimmers, only 34 finished the 2000-meter race, which was opened to international swimmers for the first time since it was made famous by Mao Tse-tung’s crossing in 1966.
Although the annual race was started to promote physical fitness, the Chinese Swimming Association opened the swim to international competitors in an effort to bring open-water swimming to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
“After Erica’s win, we joined the president of the Chinese Swimming Association and a member of the International Olympic Committee on a yacht cruise, and they were thrilled that so many people came to watch (the race),” said Sid Cassidy, Rose’s open-water coach and an aquatic director in Atlantic City, N.J.
More than 100,000 spectators crammed the banks of the Yangtze to watch Rose, who is also on the NU swimming team and is the 1998 open-water world champion and three-time U.S. national champion. Fellow American John Flanagan – the 2001 national champ – was also in the field. He finished ninth in the men’s competition.
“The overall reaction was incredible,” Rose said of her win. “The people were friendly and welcoming and they were genuinely happy for me. After the race they swarmed me and did their best to speak to me in English.”
According to Cassidy, millions more watched the race live on CCTV, China’s premier television network.
Although Rose completed the 2,000-meter race in about 14 minutes, most open water races are 10 or 25 kilometers and take hours to complete.
“Mentally, the toughest part is knowing that you’re going to be in (the water) awhile,” Rose said.
During longer races, coaches are permitted to follow the pack of swimmers by boat, providing navigation, replacement fluids and encouragement during quick feed stops.
“(As a coach) I’ve always aspired to put it in the swimmers’ heads that they must make a mental change to (adapt) to the mega-distance,” Cassidy said.
Rose will spend her summer training with her hometown swim club in Cleveland to prepare for nationals, which will be held in Newport Beach, Calif., in July, and for her first 25-kilometer race.
However, in open-water swimming there are some things for which you just can’t train.
“Sharks are a possibility in ocean races,” Rose said. “But I’ve always felt safe (during races) because there are usually helicopters and scuba divers with spear guns who are on the lookout.”
Sharks aren’t the only sea creatures that open-water swimmers have to consider. In China, Cassidy had Rose and Flanagan wear ear plugs, not only to combat the cold, but also to protect them from parasites. Swimmers also have to be prepared for jellyfish stings and snake sightings.
But the unpredictability of open-water swimming is the essence of its appeal.
“I like open-water better than pool swimming because you have so much more freedom and you’re not going up and down a black line,” Rose said. “The variables can change right up to and even during the race. It’s never the same race.”