Fat Salmon lands at the Park

Though it was a typically gray and chilly July morning in Seattle, the air temperature was probably not much on the minds of the more than 300 long-distance swimmers to who took to the waters of Lake Washington yesterday for the Fat Salmon races. The water temperature, in the mid-to-high 60s, was certainly of more consequence to these hardy souls, many of whom didn’t bother with wetsuits.

The first swimmer piled ashore with a time of only one hour and five minutes for the 3-mile swim from I-90 to the beach. That’s pretty fast for a course where I’m told an hour fifteen is considered a very good time. There was also a shorter swim of just over a mile from Denny-Blaine Park, with about half the swimmers in Fat Salmon electing to take that route to Madison Park.

For good reason, few of those coming ashore sprinted up the beach. But as sun came out, food was served, and awards were given, the recovered swimmers could look back proudly on a race well swum.

Get ready for Fat Salmon

Those living near Madison Park beach should be prepared for a large influx of early-morning visitors on Saturday as the 12th Annual Fat Salmon Open Water Swim gets underway (for some reason they are actually calling it the 11th Anniversary race, the first Fat Salmon having taken place in 1999). Check-in begins at 6:15 am, and hundreds of swimmers will be getting to the Park bright and early to participate in a pre-race meeting.

Our beach is the destination for two separate Fat Salmon events. There‘s a 3.2 mile swim from the Day Street Boat Ramp (near the I-90 floating bridge) and a later 1.2 mile swim from Denny-Blaine park. The swimmers will be car pooled from Madison Park to their starting points. If you live in the area you may recall from last year that most of the swimmers arrive here by car and quickly fill up all of the available parking within blocks of the beach. The first race starts at 8:30, and the whole show should be over by late morning.

The race gets its name from the prize given to the fastest male and female swimmers in each of the events: a big fat salmon. Here is one of last year’s Fat Salmon winners, Eddie Switaj, showing off his reward.

These races are limited to well-conditioned and experienced open-water swimmers who are members of the US or Canadian master swimmers associations. The number of racers is also strictly controlled, and all of this year’s available slots have been filled for weeks. Fat Salmon is the kind of swim meet where wet suits are absolutely allowed (although many elect to make the race without). The most-recent water temperature reading at Madison Park beach, by the way, showed 66 degrees.

A great day for a swim

I have to admit that I totally missed the boat on this one, because when my neighbors asked me this morning why the area was completely parked up well before 9:00am, I didn't have a clue. (Obviously, I'm supposed to know about these things.)

So I rushed down to the Park where I discovered that all of the hullabaloo was about the 10th Annual Fat Salmon Open Water Swim, a race involving 300 or more swimmers all heading to the beach at Madison Park. Actually it was two races, a 1.2 miler and a 3.2 miler, beginning at Denny Blaine Park and the Day Street Boat Ramp (by the I-90 floating bridge) respectively.

With the Lake Washington water at a balmy 66 degrees (at least at Madison Park beach), some of the swimmers this year elected to swim without wetsuits.

In case you're wondering about where the "fat salmon" comes into the picture, take a close look at one of the race winners receiving the prize:

I don't intend to be caught flat footed with regard to the next major swim race having Madison Park as its destination. On Wednesday, August 19, the 12th Annual Swim for Life Across Lake Washington will begin at 7:30am in Medina and finish up 4,000 meters (2.5 miles) later on our beach. This is a benefit for the Puget Sound Blood Center. More information is avaialble here.