Navesink River and swim course view from Victory Park Rumson
Today, I took part in the 11th annual Nave-sink -or- swim, it’s a an open water swim race and festival held in Rumson, NJ at the Navesink cove at Victory Park. Again this year , like the last few years the weather was perfect, and the water was calm and myself plus around 500 swimmers, got ready to take part in this open water swim.
Race Report 1.2 miles
Men’s 1.2mi sswim start
This year I would be doing the 1.2 mile swim, same as last year. At about time 8:15 am the men’s 1.2 mile wave went out. This year’s course like last year ran clock-wise first around the piers, keeping the buoys on our right.
Contact was minimal going out and while always surrounded by swimmers up till the turn around it was pretty comfortable. I was swimming with my new Maverick ROKA wet-suit, which for a full-size wet suit has excellent shoulder flexibility.
Swim finishers
The course snakes its way near the piers before heading out more to mid-river. . The green turn around buoy seemed to take a while but I knew I was moving forward. As we hit the green turn-around buoy / it was time to stand up and walk around the buoy which is located at a sandbar, which has been walk-able the last few years (it depends on river water levels and tides) . From there it was 180° turn east bound and right into the sun. My new Speedo 2.4 MDR polarized google did an outstanding job of cutting down sun glare, and I could actually spot the distance red/green buoys pretty easily.
James (guide) leads cathy through 1.2mi of 2/4 mi swim
I felt good on the return leg , and elected to take a more inside line direct towards each of the marker buoys this meant I wasn’t swimming or drafting off of any one, but I felt aI had a good tempo and was happy with my progress.
See the first green buoy and making the final turn right back to sure, again just keeping a solid tempo, it was at this point a few of the lead women in my wave (started 5min back) passed me, I tried for a few minutes to hang on their feet, but these gals are swimming 1:05/yd pace and I’m not, so it was a futile attempt. then I just focused on the the volunteers w waving the red flags and the Sandy Hooker banners, it was easy to see and I plowed ahead. A A few more strokes and I could see I hit the shallow end, and I popped up out of the water and up the few steps towards the finish..
me finishing up my 1.2mi swim
I completed this distance in 31:59 my best time to date.. but as I know all too well these open water swim distances often vary year to year.. .
Results
| year | distance | time | placing overall |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 1.2mi. | 31:59 | 66 |
| 2015 | 1.2 mi. | ||
| 2014 | 1.2 mi. | ||
| 2013 | 1.2 mi. |
Post Race
With the race over , I grabbed some after race food and then chilled and watch some of the other finishers , and the 2.4 mile swim which was still on-going. .
Race lessons
- Roka Maverick wet suit performed well , I’m just worried the thick leg neoprene will be a pain to remove in a triathlon situation
- Speedo MDR 2.4 googles were fantastic can’t recommend them enough.
- Time to move up to 2.4 distance.. for even more fun.