Red Bull Neptune Steps
IronMike
Northern VirginiaCharter Member
OK, YES! I know it's not marathon swimming. But it sure as hell looks like fun!
From this website:
Red Bull Neptune Steps challenges elite endurance athletes in an adventure race like no other, swimming through 420 metres of cold water, climbing 18 metres over eight canal lock gates, and pushing participants to their limits in a true test of speed, strength, and resolve.
Sorry for the misspelling of meters.
We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams
Comments
I think it would be a lot more interesting if they swam skin. Wonder what the water temp was.
I don't know what it was on race day, but somewhere on the site it said it was predicted to be 6 C.
OK that's pretty cold for anyone to be jumping into, wetsuit or not. Was it limited to pro level athletes?
No, I know a couple of guys who did it, not pro-athletes but everyone was either invited by Red Bull or very quick on the trigger, open registration sold out in less than an hour and was in the middle of the night for folks in the US. Supposedly non-wetsuit/skins were not allowed but you could wear a sleeveless/short wetsuit if you wanted.
They had heats, semi-finals and finals! Imagine having to do that three times in one day. :-S
I really like the concept. I'd be more interested in doing something like this over a few miles. SImilar to the concept of a swimrun event, I guess, but without pull buoys and paddles and stuff.
Sounds like a candidate for my "swim-rogaine" concept!
We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams