I say all the that with this in mind. I have never been in such a mix as the video I am posting. This video is taken from the the "2010 USA Men's Open Water Championships, which as you can see was a battle. It was a 400 meter sprint for position going into this first turn! This turn is sure to get your blood pumping (The video is at 50% speed)"
Crazy huh? Another reason to remember to swim wide at the buoy!
This next video is just raw awesomeness! "With 200 meters to go, 2005 world 10K champion Chip (do not know last name) took about 30 sightings to get his bearings straight and then took off. His trademark 8-beat kick boosted him into the lead as the 6-wide went down to a 5-wide. But his strategy played right into the hands of Fran (do not know his last name either), the fastest-closer-in-the-business. Fran swimming immediately to his right took off after Chip once he realized that the final all-out sprint was on.
Fran chased Chip right off his hip perfectly catching his draft and gaining the extra boost that he needed. As he moved up the torso of Chip, he moved ever so expertly to the right giving him so extra separation. Now parallel with Chip but with momentum on his side, Fran had the advantage that he needed."
A couple of "takeaways" from these videos (Yes, I am sounding all Corporate today)
- I have never swam in this type chaos
- This was a 10K OWS race- not ever going to be on my schedule of races
- Those guys were flying!
- Did not see much of the gliding though the water
- I can only wish I could swim like that after 6 miles of swimming!!!
Amazing!!
ReplyDeleteCheers from Hong Kong!
"XTB"Xavi.
It's fuuny that first video, everyone is being quite aggressive but it almost seems like there is a little luck in terms of each swimmers timing at it relates to the line they take..
ReplyDeletedang! 6.2 miles of swimming...that makes the ironman swim look like a pond jump.
ReplyDeleteJames, Way to think outside the box in posting these vids. You put 110% into this post and it will lead to a paradigm shift in the way bloggers post swim videos. The synergy is building so lets take the ball and push it through the endzone! --- Sorry, you brought the corporate and I just couldn't stop!! i could do like 3 posts on this right now!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, that first video looked like the entire swim from BDD's last race report that was done in a wave pool!
In partnership,
Jeff
I used to hate it too, until I realized mass starts are faster swims. More people to swim with, a bigger draft pack. Just go with it and don't get pissed when someone touches you, taps your feet etc. Just swim. 99% of what happens is not on purpose. It's just part of the race.
ReplyDeleteHere's an underwater video from Hawaii 70.3 swim at the first buoy. 1600 people mass start. Nobody died.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iXauSx4Lq0