Swimmer's Daily

  • A Colorado man garnered top overall honors Saturday at an open water swim in the Florida Keys designed to raise awareness of the need to preserve six aging lighthouses off the subtropical island chain.

    Boulder’s Yoelvis Pedraza completed the 9-mile Swim for Alligator Lighthouse Saturday in 3 hours, 18 minutes and 3 seconds, besting his 2014 victory time by almost 17 minutes.

    “I like to come to this swim, it’s such a long swim and it’s only once a year,” said Pedraza, who recently moved to Boulder from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. ” What ‘makes’ the swim is to get to the lighthouse.

    “Right underneath it, is just a gigantic diversity of life,” he said. “You see reef, you see fish, you see everything.”

    Alison Hayden of Kinnelon, N.J., won the women’s title at 4:31:07.

    Read South Florida Reporter

  • You’ve heard of cycling tours, where vacationers ride bikes from destination to destination. You can also take running trips, touring the rugged countryside or city landscapes by foot.

    Now, add swim travel to that list.

    It’s not as crazy as it sounds, with a growing number of swim tour operators. Vacationers can take a dip in the Gulf of Kotor, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Montenegro. Or swim their way across the British Virgin Islands. The companies take care of all the logistics, including boat lodgings.

    “It’s becoming really popular because people are tired of going to the beach and doing nothing,” said Nina Strel, of Strel Swimming Adventures, which takes people on trips to the waters of Turkey, Croatia, Montenegro, Slovenia, and Lake Powell in the U.S.

    Strel and Swim Vacation are two of the major swim tour companies, along with Swim Trek and The Big Blue Swim. While details vary between trips, most of the itineraries include a planned swim in the morning to a hidden cove, across a gorgeous reef, or to explore underwater shipwrecks. You have lunch, go for a hike, and get some feedback on your stroke before another swim in the afternoon.

    Read Yahoo! Travel

    Lake Powell Swimming Vacation

  • In this #swimisodes, Coach Gary Hall challenges Olympic champ Rebecca Soni do our favorite breaststroke speed swim drill, a 45 second Breaststroke Wall Kick.

    Swimisodes – Breaststroke -Wall Kick

  • In this week’s Sports Jam Spotlight Jason Melillo profiles Wayzata High School swimmer Madison Preiss. The senior is perhaps the Trojans’ best swimmer on a team full of talent. The Trojans are the two-time defending state Class AA champions. Airing on the September 21, 2015 edition of Channel 12’s Sports Jam.

  • 12 News Christina Palladino reports.

  • The mum of a teenager who died from sepsis while on her period is begging people to learn the danger signs of Toxic Shock Syndrome.

    Jemma-Louise Roberts, 13, began feeling unwell with sickness and diarrhoea while on a family holiday – and was wrongly diagnosed with winter vomiting bug Norovirus.

    Her family were told to keep her away from hospitals – but she was rushed to Wigan Infirmary after suddenly deteriorating.

    Doctors at the hospital told her family they believed she had Toxic Shock Syndrome, or TSS, caused by a bacteria linked to using tampons.

    Jemma-Louise, a member of Hindley Swimming Club and competitive breaststroke swimmer, had begun using tampons as a more convenient way to keep training while on her period.

    She died a week later after being transferred first to the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital and then Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.

    Jemma-Louise’s mum Diane Roberts, 45, is now speaking out to warn others of TSS danger signs as part of World Sepsis Week.

    Early symptoms are a high fever followed by flu-like symptoms, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea.

    A rash across the body can then appear and TSS can cause fatal organ failure if left untreated.

    Diane said: “TSS used to be talked about in the eighties but you never hear it now.

    “If it can save just one more person it will be worth it.

    “My husband had never heard of TSS – if one dad reads this and his daughter falls ill, it could save her life.”

    Read Manchester Evening News

  • Former Olympic swimming champion Park Tae-hwan, currently serving a doping suspension, has relocated to Japan to continue training, his management company said Tuesday.

    Team GMP said Park left for Tokyo with his manager and physical trainer on Monday, and will begin training at Hosei University on Thursday. Park will stay in the Japanese capital until December, Team GMP added.

    In March, Park, the 2008 Olympic gold medalist in the men’s 400-meter freestyle, received an 18-month ban from FINA, the international swimming governing body, after testing positive for testosterone the previous fall.

    Under FINA’s anti-doping policy, Park isn’t permitted to train at facilities operated by the government or by his national swimming federation. He had been working out at a public pool in Seoul since June.

    Read Yonhap News

  • A 28-year-old Navy combat veteran is about halfway through his effort to swim the length of the Mississippi River.

    Chris Ring passed through the St. Louis area Monday as part of his goal of completing the 2,552-mile swim over six months. He typically swims 14 to 16 miles per day, except on Sundays, and started June 6 in Minnesota.

    A nonprofit called Legacies Alive is sponsoring Ring. Legacies Alive supports loved ones of fallen veterans.

    It is believed that just one other person has been able to swim the length of the river — Martin Strel in 2002.

    See NavyTimes and fox2now

  • BUTTERFLY tells the story of one young swimmer’s struggle against the epilepsy that has returned to haunt her life. When the condition puts her swimming career on hold and her quality of life under threat, she must decide just where her priorities lie… before it’s too late.