I’m looking for a particular shot of an Ironman swim, where you see the huge pack of swimmers from behind at water level, with this mass of arms all over the place. And then I thought, hey, I’ll bet there are tons of great swim shots, so why not ask the ST peeps if they have some to post here…
I have a collection of great pics of my elbows from various tris I have done!
Like this?
Or this?
Take your pick: http://images.google.com/images?um=1&tab=wi&client=firefox-a&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=ironman%20swim
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I think this one is the winner!
Wow, glad I cancelled my IMcda mass start swim.
Dave
I saw this picture of the start of IMMOO 06 afterwards I thought, “wow it didn’t feel that crowded,” but that’s probably because I had so much adrenaline pumping. Apparently some guy swam out 200yds and made a sharp right turn towards land and quit right then and there.
Wow!!! Looking at that picture I’m sure glad that I’m a FOP swimmer. Let me ask you all this, it seems that a preponderance of you like the Ironman mass start swim. I look at this picture, and it boggles me that you actually enjoy this sort of thing. I would go crazy if I had to swim in that mess, but if that’s what everyone likes, then more power to ya’ all…
That is a GORGEOUS shot.
Monty,
I wouldn’t say that i “like” the mass start, it’s definitely a different experience for sure. But then again the ironman swim is just a survival leg until I reach dry land. My hope is always that I get there with my goggles still on and all my teeth! I will say that I feel like there is this current affect with the shear number of swimmers that just pulls you along if you can keep up with the mass.
TC,
I actually thought of you after I posted that pic with all the discussion about you swimming over people and what not. In a mass start like that you just have to swim over people, there is simply no place to go around. Congrats on your race btw.
Over 2400 people in that mass start, but OTOH, it is a really wide swim start. The only problem is there is no beach or shore, it is a rock bank. A lot of people didn’t want to get in until the last minute.
Yours truly started on the far left outside, which is actually inside the buoy line your suppose to stay right of. There were about 50 of us over there. There were maybe 3 people to my left.
At the start, I was in clear water after only maybe 40 yards. I dialed back the speed at that point. It was the easiest IM start of the three races I have done to date.
I stayed on the inside of the buoys for maybe 2/3s of the way down the first leg. Then everything went to hell. The course is a rectangle that you swim twice, so 7 turns. Only the last turn was reasonably low traffic. I thought I was buried deep in the pack as I had people around me the whole way. To my complete surprise, I came out of the water in the 260’s overall position. I could not begin to imagine what those turns looked like for the typical 1:10 - 1:15 crowd where 60% or more swimmers finish.
a little birdie told me today that you can swim an inside line as long as you keep the buoys to the left as you turn.
Yours truly started on the far left outside, which is actually inside the buoy line your suppose to stay left of. There were about 50 of us over there. There were maybe 3 people to my left.
About these pictures taken by www.digitaltriathlon.com of the beach start at Ironman Canada 2000+ starters… They have tons of pictures on their web site.
It probably doesn’t feel as bad as it looks. I think the most congested swim start that I have done was WF. I’ve done collegiate, AG Oly and HIM there, collegiate was probably the worst, with the HIM a close second. I had to swim head up for about 100 yards in order not to get kicked in the face at WF. Haven’t done any IM’s yet, so I can’t make that comparison.
So, anyone go pics of a WF start to compare?
Ed
a little birdie told me today that you can swim an inside line as long as you keep the buoys to the left as you turn.
Yeppers. It depends on the course, though, if it is a good idea or not. In this case, it was an excellent idea. 
Can’t take credit for this shot and I can’t remember who took it. It was at the Strawberry Tri in Oxnard in 2005. It was my first tri and I almost DNS and quit tri before I even started, when I saw the waves. I probably looked like those guys in the left back of the picture…scared and stunned.
Oh my, won’t that be fun this year when the number of registered participants (as of today) is 2,786??? Gulp…
Thank you.
It is a beautiful picture but I keep looking at it and crying. I don’t know why.