The swimmers have qualification times that are compiled at official seeding events. Based on this pre-seeding and organization, the start has a military precision that is a credit to the hundreds of volunteers and organization staff. Each heat has different colors including gold which signifies the 8-mile Club - the swimmers who chose to do all eight 1-mile heats.
With dozens of lifeguards in the water at the start - where many newscomers have problems - and hundreds of lifeguards lined up in 50-meter increments along both sides of the relatively narrow course, the swimmers have a fairly straight course across the dam. The swimmers even swim over 8 military divers who spend their time under the water during the race.
The event has three different hot spots - at the 400-meter, 800-meter and 1200-meter distances where the fastest swimmers can win prize money. A start - and a finish - to see.
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