This Is Great For Open Water Swimming

This is big. This is huge news. This is great stuff for open water swimming.

The British Gas Great Salford Swim will be broadcast live, together with the Bupa Great Manchester Run on BBC television on May 15th - showcasing over 40,000 participants all together in the water and on the streets of Manchester.

270 total minutes or 4½ hours of live television coverage with feature some of the world's greatest athletes on land and in the water. The exposure is quite a step up from the first British Gas Great Salford Swim that was staged last year when 2,000 people swam in a unique course in the spectacular Salford Quays – a creative course layout from the always innovative Nova International Group.

Colin Hill,the cool, calm, collected event organizer of the Great Swims and an English Channel swimmer, was excited about exposure, "As you know getting open water swimming on TV is a challenge, but to have live BBC coverage is a wonderful opportunity for the sport. Both the elite men’s and women’s races will have full coverage as well as some of the mass participation event in the iconic Salford Quays."

The elite race will feature two of the sport's greatest stars - Olympic medalists Keri-Anne Payne on the women's side and Thomas Lurz on the men's side. While these two superstars are at the highest end of the aquatic and aerobic scale, the event and broadcast will also feature thousands of swimmers of all shapes, sizes and abilities.

Colin explained, "The inaugural swim in Salford proved an enormous hit with swimmers last year, partly because of the unique nature of the course, which took in two different docks as well as the canal that links them. The atmosphere around Manchester and Salford will be amazing. It's also going to be incredible to see our Olympic hopefuls swimming on live television alongside world-class running events."

The dual combination of swimming and running events is part of a global trend in the sport where open water swims are being marketed and staged with other events, from biathlons, triathlons and events from surfing contests to craft fairs.

The 2011 British Gas Great Swim Series includes the British Gas Great East Swim on June 11th, the British Gas Great North Swim on June 17th - 19th, the British Gas Great London Swim on July 2nd and the British Gas Great Scottish Swim whose date will be announced soon.

Copyright © 2011 by Open Water Source