Swift Swimming Club will be hosting the first open water swim race of the new swim season.

The 1.67 kilometer (k) and 5k events are being sponsored by Deloitte & Touche, Starbucks, Palm Cay and Chives. It will take place Saturday, September 28, at Palm Cay. Registration will be held that morning, from 8-9:30 a.m., with race time starting at 10 a.m. at the beach at Palm Cay.

Open water swimming is now a CARIFTA and Caribbean Island Swimming Championships (CISC) event, and swimmers will be using this weekend to show their interest in swimming the event at CARIFTA or the CISC during 2014. Open water swimming has become more and more popular. It has been a world championships event for many years, and will be in its second Olympics in 2016.

The swift swimming event will offer two race courses - a 1.67k or one-mile course, and a 5k or three-mile course. The 5k is the official International Swimming Federation (FINA) distance, and the distance used at the CARIFTA level. There will also be a 800-meter (m) race for the 8-and-under age group.

The open water swimming age groups are 12-and-under, 13-19, and 20-and-over for both male and female. Medals will be presented for first, second and third in each age group, and a trophy will be presented for an overall top finish for male and female in both courses.

The Palm Cay and Chives Restaurant offer an ideal spot to host the event with a beach, good parking, and a six-foot deep shallow water course that allows spectators to watch the race from the beach or restaurant.

The course is an equilateral triangle that will start and finish at the beach. Once around the triangle is approximately one mile, so the 5k course will require the swimmers to swim three laps. There will be three new eight-foot orange buoy markers that have been sponsored by Deloitte & Touche.

All interested swimmers are asked to check the swift swimming web page at www.swimswift.com for the registration form that can be filled out and brought to the event on Saturday morning.

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