2010 Interior Savings Across the Lake Swim

The Across the Lake Swim Society (ATLSS)  Annual General Meeting will be on September 22, 2010 in the Parkinson Recreation Centre Gala Boardroom from 7-9pm. If you would like to be involved or learn more about the Society that runs the Across the Lake Swim, we encourage you to come to the AGM!

At the final Open Water Swim Clinic on Saturday, we gave away a free wetsuit courtesy of IMPACT Magazine. Congrats to Spencer who was the lucky winner!

Nick Rabinovitch will be coaching the Open Water Swim Clinic this Saturday, August 14th. Nick will be teaching stroke technique, race strategy, swim to bike transition and will show you some swim training strategies that you can do on your own. Will be a great session for all Apple triathletes!

You could win an XTERRA wetsuit this Saturday courtesy of IMPACT Magazine!
Be sure to come out to the final Open Water Swim clinic of the year! You won’t want to miss it!

There are only 2 Open Water Swim Clinics left! The Apple Triathlon is getting close so come out and get taught by some of the best open water swim coaches in the valley. Gyro Swim Loop 645am.

This Saturday’s Open Water Swim Clinic is coached by Okanagan Masters’ Head Coach Jon Smirl. Jon will be teaching drafting techniques and how to swim more efficiently together. Jon is an excellent coach with over 20 years of competitive swimming experience. You won’t want to miss this one! Gyro Swim Loop at 6:45am.

We skipped last week because of the highly successful Interior Savings Across the Lake Swim, but now it’s time to get back at ‘er! We’re excited to have English Channel swimmer Brent Hobbs back to coach tomorrow’s clinic (Saturday, July 24th). Learn open water swim techniques including sighting, positioning and straight line swimming. 6:45am at the Gyro Swim Loop.

Planning for next year is already underway.  If you have any feedback about what you liked about our swim, and what we could be doing better, please drop us a line at: feedback@acrossthelakeswim.com.

If you want to become part of our organizing committee, to become part of the best organized event in the Okanagan, and now the biggest open water swim in Canada, we would welcome and encourage you to come out to our AGM, to be scheduled and posted shortly.

Thanks to Dirk Handke who did a fabulous job and snapped almost 1000 photos! You can view the entire collection here.

The results for the 2010 Interior Savings Across the Lake Swim are now online. Click here to view

For those who picked up race packages yesterday and purchased shirts, they will be available today at package pickup at Fresh Air Concept from 5-8pm or after the race tomorrow.

The 2010 Interior Savings Across the Lake Swim is now sold out! This is the largest race ever as we capped the entries at 450 participants.

Aqua Sphere will be putting on a wetsuit demo day this Friday, July 16 from 6:30am to 9am at the Gyro Swim Loop! Come down and try out Aqua Sphere’s complete line of wetsuits and eye protection

Congratulations to Michelle Hodgson who swam away with a brand new ORCA wetsuit courtesy of Kelowna Cycle at the Gyro Loop Swim Clinic on Sat, July 10th! We’ll be having another wetsuit giveaway coming up next month!

As of today (July 9) there are only 50 spots left for the 2010 Interior Savings Across the Lake Swim. If you haven’t registered yet, you had better do it very soon! Register Now >

Nick Rabinovitch will be teaching techniques for safety, body position, getting more power in your stroke and swimming around others. This is the last clinic before the Interior Savings Across the Lake Swim!

You could win a FREE ORCA wetsuit courtesy of Kelowna Cycle!

UPDATE: Congratulations to Alain from Abbotsford, BC who won the free entry into this year’s race! The correct answer is: ‘Hangnail’

Answer this skill testing question and win one FREE entry into the 2010 Interior Savings Across the Lake Swim on July 17, 2010!

The question is:
Everyone’s favourite band, Nickelback, sings a song with the word “swimming” in the lyrics. What is the name of the song?

The first person to email the answer to: raceinfo@acrossthelakeswim.com wins!

Note: The free entry is for individuals that have not registered for the race. If you have already registered, we will take the next successful response.

This Saturday is the final Open Water Swim Clinic before the 2010 Interior Savings Across the Lake Swim. To celebrate, we are giving away a FREE Orca wetsuit graciously donated by Kelowna Cycle. Enroll in the swim clinic and you get an entry in the draw for the wetsuit! So be sure to come to the clinic and tell all your friends to come by too! Be at the Gyro Swim Loop at 6:45am, July 10th. Cost is $5 for insurance.

The Lake Okanagan Resort will has a special rate for race participants! They’ll give 15% off to Interior Savings Across the Lake Swim participants if they book accommodation on the July 17th weekend. There are still a few rooms left so hurry! View their website: www.lakeokanagan.com

Saturday, June 26 will be another Open Water Swim Clinic brought to you by the Across the Lake Swim Society. Rob Swan from Critical Performance will be teaching how to integrate long distance sighting into the swim stroke and how to swim straighter. The lake temperature is nice and warm, and it’s going to be a beautiful morning for a swim. There’s no excuses people! Unless, of course, you were out drinking with your buddies the night before.

Fresh Air will also be demoing wetsuits from Blue Seventy and Zoot. Come and try one on and go for a swim. With your new sighting and straight swimming skills, Fresh Air won’t have to pick you up somewhere in the middle of the lake swimming in circles in their expensive demo suit (see why they’re doing the demo day after this clinic? – smart).

Registration is 6:45am at the Gyro Swim Loop. Cost is $5 to cover insurance.

We are accepting nominations for this year’s Jan Morrow award until July 1st!. Know someone who has been an inspiration to the swim community? Send your nomination to: racedirector@acrossthelakeswim.com. Information about the award can be found here.

We are excited to welcome Rob Swan from Critical Performance to our line up of coaches! Rob will be teaching the Open Water Swim Clinic this Saturday, June 26. Rob has been professionally coaching triathlon and endurance sports for 8 years, but started coaching in the mid 90’s. He started swimming when he was 17 and trained and competed on the SFU Varsity Swim Team while at University. Welcome Rob!

Fresh Air will be putting on a wetsuit demo day this Saturday, June 26 at 7am at the Gyro Swim Loop. Come down and try on a wetsuit from Blue Seventy and Zoot and take it for a spin around the loop.

This one’s a biggie – Leanne Manlove from Pinnacle Elite Athlete will be discussing “Starts, Re-entry’s, and Exits”. This will include everything from reviewing different start types (deep water and beach), proper start positioning, mass starts, and exit and re-entry strategies. You don’t want to miss this one! Registration is at 6:45am at Gyro Beach Swim Loop. Cost is $5 (to cover insurance).

There is a race for everyone at the 28th annual Pushor Mitchell Kelowna Apple Triathlon, taking place on August 20-22, 2010!

The race weekend features Elite and Junior Elite races, Sprint and Olympic distance age group triathlons, relays, a Try-a-Tri, kids’ and youth races, an aquathon as well as FINA open water swim races. For the third consecutive year, the Kelowna Apple Triathlon represents the Canadian National Championships and the ITU Pan American Cup. It is also a qualifier for the 2011 World Championships in Beijing. The 2009 Apple Triathlon attracted more than 1500 local, national and international entries. This required the support of approximately 900 volunteers to fill all the positions for the race weekend.

If you are interested in participating or volunteering at this event, please visit www.appletriathlon.com for more information.

So you’ve completed the race, and got your big, beautiful, fancy-shmancy Interior Savings Across the Lake Swim towel. Last thing you want is for some shmo to run off with it. Well, included in your race package will be a coupon so you can get your towel embroidered with your name and finish time! Just fill in the form, take your towel and form to Blair Sportswear, hand over a measly 5 bucks (including tax!) and they’ll take care of it. They’ll even call you when it’s ready for pickup! Click that thumbnail to the left to see an example of how it’ll look. Kinda reminds you of when your Mom used to sew your name in your gym shorts, huh? Oh, only my Mom did that?

The Vernon Kokanee Swim Club is hosting the 2nd Annual Vernon Kokanee Open Water Challenge on Saturday, July 24, 2010 at Kin Beach in Vernon. For more information about the swim and to register, click here.

UPDATE 06/17/10: The swimmer has found a kayaker!

A swimmer for this year’s race needs a canoeist or kayaker as his support person. He is 76 years old and has completed the race several times previously in the competitive category. He is also a member of the Edmonton Masters Swim Club. Do you know of anyone who would like to spend the morning on the lake as Terry’s support person? Please contact Terry Drewhurst at terry.dewhurst@gmail.com

Tomorrow, Saturday June 12th, is the next Open Water Swim Clinic! Leanne Manlove from Pinnacle Elite Athlete will be teaching how to put on your wetsuit correctly and will be continuing to practice sighting techniques, as it is very important to swimming faster and straighter in the open water. After the swim clinic we’ll hold the Time Trials so you can test your newly learned skills! Come to the Gyro Swim Loop at 6:45am for registration. Cost is only $5 to cover insurance.

With the assistance of the City of Kelowna, we have added a second loop to the Gyro Swim Loop. Dubbed the “Manteo Mile”, the loop is a 1300m out and back from the 100m buoy to just in front of the Manteo Resort. Completing this loop plus the regular Gyro loop gives you exactly 2km – a Half Ironman distance. Click here to view a detailed map of the new loop.

Tomorrow is the first Open Water Swim Clinic, coached by Brent Hobbs. This will be a great clinic for those a little antsy about swimming in open water or for those who need to brush off the open water cob webs. Brent Hobbs is a great coach and this clinic will be perfect for all levels. Following the clinic, we are starting the time trials – complete an 800m loop and we’ll time you and post your results so you can see your improvement over the summer. Of course, you can come for the clinic only and not do the time trials, but it’s a great way to measure your performance. Meet at the Gyro Swim Loop at 6:45am to register. Note: There is a $5 fee to cover insurance and you must sign a waiver.

Last year we placed 5 special tokens in various goodie bags which gave you a FREE entry into this year’s race! It was in the inside pocket of the bag (you did look didn’t you? doh!) If you’ve won, please contact the registrar to claim your free entry! Hey… where’d everybody go? Ah – bet you’ve all gone running to check those bags!

On June 5th, we’ll be starting our open water swim clinics at the Gyro Beach Swim Loop. All that’s required is a $5 fee to cover insurance. There’s a great lineup of coaches: English Channel swimmer: Brent Hobbs, open water specialist and ATLS Safety Director: Nick Nabinovitch, Pinnacle Elite Athlete coach: Leanne Manlove and Okanagan Masters Swim Club Head Coach: Jon Smirl. Registration starts at 6:45am. Here is the schedule:

• June 5th: Brent Hobbs
• June 12th: Leanne Manlove
• June 19th: Leanne Manlove
• June 26th: Nick Rabinovitch
• July 3rd: Nick Rabinovitch
• July 10th: Nick Rabinovitch
• July 24th: Brent Hobbs
• July 31st: Jon Smirl
• August 7th: Nick Rabinovitch
• August 14th: Leanne Manlove

This weekend’s Capital News featured a very in depth article about the ATLS, triathlons and open water swimming. Click here to read it online

We are now accepting nominations for this year’s Jan Morrow Award. Nominations are accepted until July 1st, 2010. Click here for more information about the award. Please send your nomination suggestion to: racedirector@acrossthelakeswim.com

Well, it’s done! A trio of crazy Across the Lake Swim Society directors took a dip in the chilly water at the Gyro Beach Swim Loop. Race Director Mark Fromberg, Media and Promotions Director Biggi Weischedel and Safety Director Nick Rabinovitch donned their heavy duty swim gear and did a loop (or almost a loop) in the blistering 12 degree water. Unfortunately, they were out done by a wandering stranger who just happened to be going for a swim as well (what the…). Click on the thumbnail (and check out that fancy ATLS beach towel!).

Catch this! We have taken race souvenirs to the next level! The ATLS will be offering a race bag goodie that has never been done before, and what for many will be a welcome relief to a huge stack of racing t-shirts. Have you ever ordered a small race shirt, received a large, but you really need a medium and all they had left was an extra-large… from last year’s race? Well no more!

Behold the custom-made, soon-to-be-famous ATLS beach towel! It’s plush, big, bold & beautiful. You’ll love it! One size fits all! Kinda makes you want to register right away, doesn’t it? This year’s swim will be capped at 450 swimmers, so take the plunge, and register soon!

Don’t worry – if you still want a souvenir shirt for yourself or your support person, they can be ordered on the registration page, but only until July 1. We gotcha covered. Click that bad-boy thumbnail on the right to see it even bigger.

IMPACT Magazine has joined as a new sponsor of the race! Visit their site to get the latest info on fitness, sport performance and health. www.impactmagazine.ca

Aqua Sphere has joined our supporters for our 2010 race, supplying this year’s race swim caps and some prizes (hint: they rhyme with toggles!). Aqua Sphere will also be doing a demo the morning and afternoon on the Friday before the race.  Come and test out their line of goggles and their Ironman Aqua Sphere Powered wetsuits. Demo a wetsuit and you will walk away with a “Dominate” silicone Aqua Sphere swim cap!  More details will follow shortly on this website.

Save-On is kindly serving up post race snacks again, the green race bags, and a few secret goodies for this year’s bags. Did we mention we have the BEST goodie bag, like ever?

Our new registration system is almost ready! We’re just doing some final testing and tweaking and we hope to open registration this week (fingers flippers crossed). We thank you for your patience!

We are happy to announce Interior Savings Credit Union is the title sponsor for this year’s Across the Lake Swim! This is an exciting partnership that will bring the race to the next level. Wait till you see what we have in store for this year’s race!

New this year: stay update with the latest information about the race by following us on Twitter. During the warmer months, get the water temperature each morning sent to you by our Twitter feed! Just click here to follow us: http://www.twitter.com/atlskelowna.

Starbucks will be again be handing out coffee to racers and spectators alike on the beach on race day morning.  This was a hit last year!