NYC Swim’s Little Red Lighthouse has long been one of my perennial favorites. The course continues to evolve, but today’s 10k swims very much like the 7.8 mile swim of a decade ago… that is to say; fast. Little Red has gone from a “butt slide” entry on smooth rocks to a familiar leap off of a NY Water Taxi. Last year’s swim started from the 79th Street Boat Basin north to the Inwood Canoe Club…. crossing under the George Washington Bridge. This was going to be a tough event to top, but today’s event did… and by a large margin. The check-in/finish area had convenient and plentiful free parking available; the park is just across the street from an excellent supermarket so last minute provisions are readily available; plenty of grass to relax and stretch out on; easy boarding of the Water Taxi and exiting onto the dock; and a course that started about 4 miles north of the GWB. Scenic highlights were passing by Spuytin Duyvel and under the GWB (2nd time this week for me). The course was well marked and patrolled by kayaks and motor boats, and the generous timeline allowed plenty of time to socialize… and with over 300 registered swimmers, a good opportunity to meet and greet out of town swimmers, many who traveled from afar specifically for this event.
I was happy to see a good number of younger swimmers present. Their absence in USMS sanctioned events is an unfortunate technicality that I would like to see change. I took the swim out hard, and had the good fortune of meeting up with a few friends along the way. I swam with (behind) Rondi for five or ten minutes, and then came up next to Janet. We synched up for a bit, including a perfect synchro transition into backstroke under the GWB without missing a beat! Then Emma came by and I swam with her for a bit… we swam a good stretch of this event together last year. Kayaker Teddy came by to say hello and point the way to the next buoy, and Capt John gave the final direction of “start heading in” to the finish.
I hope this LRLH course is a keeper!
Thank you to all the staff and volunteers at NYC SWIM for making this an awesome event!