The 2018 calendar is starting to fill up in Russia for open water swims. Two of the organizations who run swims here, Champions Cup and Eurasia Swim Cup, have their schedules published. Unsure how many of these I’ll be doing as we leave in late summer and many of these are out of town. We’ll have to see how the move progresses. But without any further ado, here are the swims:

*17 March – Cyprus (yes, Cyprus), 1k, 1.9k, 3.8k, 6k, 10k, 1k in fins
6 May  – Abkhazia, 1k, 1.5k, 3k, 6k, 10k, 1k in fins.
27 May – Sicily (yes, I know that’s Italy, but the Eurasia Swim Cup folks are having two swims in Italy in 2018 as part of their series), same events as 6 May Abkhazia above.
27 May – Moscow, 1k, nautical mile, 5k, 3 x 1000m relay
27 May – Rostov-on-Don, 1k, 1.5k
*10 June – Moscow, 1k, nautical mile, 3k, 3 x 1000m relay
17 June – Pereslavl, 1.5k, 3k
24 June – Lytkarino, 1k, 1.9k, 3.8k, 6k, 1k in fins
30 June – lake Seliger near St. Petersburg, nautical mile, 5k, 10k
1 July – Yaroslavl, 1.5k, 3k
1 July – Lipetsk, 1k, nautical mile, 10k, 3 x 1000m relay
8 July – Lytkarino, 1k, 1.9k, 3.8k, 6k, 1k in fins
8 July – lake Turgoyak in the Urals, nautical mile, 4k
8 July – Rybinsk, 1k, nautical mile, 5k, 3 x 1000m relay
15 July – Lytkarino, 1k, 1.9k, 3.8k, 6k, 10k, 1k in fins
15 July – lake Baikal, nautical mile, 5k
22 July – Votkinsk, 1.5k, 3k
28 July – Volga swim, 1k, 3k, 5k
29 July – Bronnitsy, 1.9k, 3.8k
*5 August – Ritsa, 1.5k, 5.8k
11 August – Zaraysk, 1.5k, 3k
12 August – St Petersburg, 2.3k, 4.6k
12 August – Kazan, 1.9k, 3.8k
19 August – Saint Petersburg, 1k, 1.5k, 3k, 6k
19 August – Arctic swim in the Arctic ocean, 1k, nautical mile
26 August – Pereslavl, 1.5k, 3k, 6k
2 September – Samara, 1k, 1.5k, 3k
2 September – lake Sevan in Armenia, nautical mile, 5k
9 September – Rostov-on-Don, 1.5k, 3k, 6k
14-16 September – Sochi Swim Festival, 1k, nautical mile, 5k, 3 x 1000m relay
*16 September, Tbilisi, 1.9k, 5k
14 October – Abkhazia, 1k, 1.9k, 3.8k, 6k, 10k, 1k in fins
*November – Eurasia Swim Cup final in UAE

Some notes on the above. The Eurasia Swim Cup folks are still working on organizing some swims in Strogino, where I swam with them this year. Those 5.8k swims were so well-organized and fun I’m really hoping they’ll have a bunch of them before I move.

Next, that Saint Petersburg swim on 12 August will be around the Peter and Paul Fortress in the heart of St. Pete. That is so damn close to my departure, but, like my first overseas swim in Copenhagen around the Danish seat of government, I may have to make time for this one.

The dates with * are additions as of 15 December.

Below is a map I made of all the locations for the 2018 Russian season.