Compare your swim speed to 3000 others.
 

I thought this would be of interest to some people, particularly those who have not yet competed in their first swimming competition.

It is a summary of the results from the largest participation open water swim event in the uk held in July of this year.

British Gas Great London Swim 2011, 1 mile open water (1609m/1760yrds)-Wet suits were compulsory, water temp circa 16.5 degrees celsius. Location Victoria dock, River thames London.


These are some stats taken from the general classification and exlude the elite race times which from memory was won in about 16:20.

I think its interesting as it demonstrates how many places you gain in a race for each minute off your time, will surprise a lot of TI swimmers how far up the list they would come, and finally help validate why improving your swim times by a minute or more over a distance of a mile takes time and dedication.

Winning time 19:32

3206 swimmers finished. This is where you would have come if your time was as follows.

20 minutes 3rd Place
21 minutes 11th Place
22 minutes 22nd Place
23 minutes 44th Place
24 minutes 80th Place
25 minutes 144th Place
26 minutes 211th Place
27 minutes 291st Place
28 minutes 423rd Place
29 minutes 571st Place
30 minutes 712th Place
31 minutes 877th Place
32 minutes 1065th Place
33 minutes 1210 Place
34 minutes 1386 Place
35 minutes 1566 Place
36 minutes 1717 Place
37 minutes 1847 Place
38 minutes 1976 Place
39 minutes 2082 Place
40 minutes 2200 Place
41 minutes 2289 Place
42 minutes 2376 Place
43 minutes 2452 Place
44 minutes 2521 Place
45 minutes 2592 Place
50 minutes 2833 Place
55 minutes 2986 Place
60 minutes 3078 Place
65 minutes 3122 Place
70 minutes 3156 Place
75 minutes 3177 Place
final finisher 109 minutes 3206 Place

all results information taken from www.greatswim.org

That was pretty cool. Thanks

The US Masters Postal Swims are another really good way to get a sense of how your speed stacks up against other swimmers and to track your progress from one year to the next.

A Postal Swim is basically a virtual swim meet. You do the swim by yourself or with friends, and log your results online. It's based on the honor system.

You have to get someone to count your laps and time your 100-yard or 100-meter splits. The data you get from this is extremely helpful.

There are 5 of these per year.

• 1-Hour Postal Swim in January: Swim as far as you can in an hour in any 25-yard, 25-meter, 50-meter or 50-yard pool.
• 5K/10K May 15th-September 15th: Swim either 5K or 10K in a 50-meter pool. Or do both on separate days.
• 3,000/6,000 Yards September 15th-November 15th: Swim 3,000 or 6,000 yards in either a 25-yard or 25-meter pool. Or do both on separate days

You have to be a USMS member to participate ($45/year, lots of benefits), and the Postal Swims are something like $11.00.

This is a fun, low-pressure way to get started in competition and get some useful data about your speed. There are about 3,000 participants in most of these.

Join USMS here: http://www.usms.org/reg/
The left side-bar at http://www.usms.org/ has info about all of the remaining Postal Swims for 2011.