OPEN WATER CHAMPIONSHIP RETURNS TO LEE COUNTY

The drowning a year and a half ago of U.S. open water swimming national champion Fran Crippen off the shore of Dubai cast a pall over the sport and forced it to re-examine safety measures.

As the sport regains a sense of normalcy heading into this summer’s Olympics in London, Fort Myers, one of its long-standing home bases, rejoins the national picture, and local organizers hope it stays that way.

After last year’s USA Swimming Open Water National Championships were abruptly moved from Fort Myers Beach to Fort Lauderdale over concerns about high water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico, the championships return this week at Miromar Lakes Beach & Golf Club in Estero.

“We’re thrilled to have it back,” said Gregg Cross, organizer of the Open Water Festival that includes the USA Swimming nationals. “We want to be the home for it (long-term).”

Crippen, the 5K national champion in 2007, ’08 and ’09 when the races were held off Fort Myers Beach, drowned in October 2010 after suffering heat exhaustion in a poorly monitored 10K race in the Gulf of Oman, where water temperatures were in the mid-80s and air temperatures topped 100.

Crippen’s death prompted USA Swimming and FINA to set a recommended maximum water temperature of 87.8 degrees for open-water events longer than 5K.

Because the average temperature in the Gulf of Mexico in Southwest Florida in June is about 87 degrees, USA Swimming moved its events to Fort Lauderdale, where Atlantic Ocean temperatures at the same time are closer to 78 degrees.

The Gulf Coast Swim Team still held its 10th annual Open Water Festival last June off Fort Myers Beach, where water temperatures were only 81 degrees, “which was unheard of,” Cross said. read more...