“Oh man, it’s just like a smooth lake out here,

[mouakter13]

Racers must be older than 16 unless they’re year-round swimmers or have open water experience. Awards are presented at the end of the six-week series. Racers score points for each finish, similar to the Juneau Trail and Road Runners’ Nugget Alaskan Outfitter Cup. Point awards are given to age groups 40 and over, 19-39 and 18 and under.

“And then if people do all six, they also get an award,” Griffith said. “It’s kind of like a geezers’ Sunday (run), only it’s a masters’ Saturday. Well, we did have a 14-year-old last week. Of course, it was sunny last week, I think we had 21. I think each year we’ve had more come. It is somewhat weather dependent, of course. If it’s a nice summer, more people are gonna come out and swim. But I think with the rise in the triathlon community in town, we’ve seen a rise in open water, so that kind of was the point of it. We do have some people that just swim, but I would say over half are triathletes that need to get into open water swimming. We phone number list even had our first guy from Skagway, they did the first one. We’ve had some people that are, ‘oh, we’re in town, we heard about this.’ It is fun and appealing.”

The race is sponsored by the GSC. Co-coach Amber Kelly, the race director Saturday, said, “Interest increases each week and sometimes we get newer swimmers. Last week we had a 14-year-old come through and do it. She was on the swim team. If they are on a swim team already, they’re allowed to participate. Otherwise, it is a case-by-case decision.”