Edit: Let me be clear: I am talking here about the cost for an open water event to the swimmer, not to the organization putting on the swim.
A fellow marathon swimmer made a comment to me recently that “$33/mile is not an outrageous amount” for an open water swim. On the surface, I think she was making a good point. But I think there is much more to be considered than entry fee per mile. For instance, I paid $250 to enter Swim the Suck a couple years ago. Looking at the entry fee per mile that’s $25. Not bad I guess, compared to, say, Nanticoke at $31.32/mile ($93.96/three). Or Swim for the Potomac’s 10K at $8.06/mile ($50/6.2 miles).
However, there is also travel to consider. For StS, with excellent internet searching I got to Chattanooga for a little over $200. Nanticoke will cost me about 300 miles, there and back, and with my gas-guzzling 11-year old minivan, that’ll be about 20 gallons of gas at ~$3.30/gallon, so add $66 to the total cost. Travel is where the 10K here in town rules: It’s only about 11 miles there and back, so less than a gallon of gas. Of course, the 11 clams I gotta pay for parking there makes up for the savings in gas!
Rolled into travel for some of these swims is not only airfare, but hotels and rental cars. I’ll probably get a hotel for Nanticoke, so add in another $100 (it is near the Eastern Shore, after all). Oh, and don’t forget paying for your support. Again, StS starts to add up. I, of course, paid for my Uncle’s airfare and hotel; granted, we shared a room. I paid for the rental and bought him food, although he treated me the night of the race to a celebratory dinner. Still, that $25/mile rises fast when (if?) you take into account all the costs.
Then there are those costs which are difficult to calculate. The effect of time away from home and hearth. The money spent that could go to things like housekeeping, home improvement, college funds, marriage maintenance. (This really is a selfish hobby, btw.) How much did it cost me in those areas when I spent four days in the UK by myself swimming my first 10K? How about the three days in Chattanooga?
And just because one swim “only” costs 10 bucks per mile, does that mean that particular swim is better or more worth your time than one that costs $33 per mile? There are those incalculables, like the iconicity (iconness?) of a particular swim. $10,000 for a channel swim? That ~$450/mile is probably worth it if you succeed (and if it only costs you $10K). I’ll say one thing: For me, StS was worth whatever the final cost was, both financially and psychically.
I don’t think there is a right answer to these questions, at least not one right answer. Not one answer that we could all agree on.
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