Sandpoint, ID

Beauty abounds in Sandpoint as I think we are all aware of; but during the summer months often times we focus in on what we feel embodies that beauty: the lake. Pend Oreille Lake offers many refreshing activities when the mercury is rising outside. From boating and all the activities that inherently brings, to just lounging out at the beach enjoying the cool water. But there is one particular event that is drawing attention from many other areas. The Long Bridge Swim, an event that happens once a year and draws record crowds and participants every year, is billed as the longest open water swim in the Northwest. This year over 800 participants and thousands of gawking bystanders made this event one not to be missed.

The premise of this race is simple: start at the south end of the Long Bridge and swim it’s length to the beach commonly referred to as Dog Beach. Although some treat this as a competition it is more intended on being an event to just get everyone out enjoying the lake. The swim is open to all and you can use any swimming device you wish from life vests to fins to just a bare racing swimsuit. The total swim is a 1.76-mile lap with kayaks, canoes, jet skies and boats along the way for any swimmer that gets in trouble.

This year I had planned on not attending the race, however upon finding out well over a dozen of my friends were planning on swimming, I knew it would be a great time and I wasn’t disappointed. The race was supposed to be under way at 9 am, but due to registration running long the swim was postponed till 10 am. This ended up in our favor, as we were able to stake out a great spot to see the start of the race and get a good view of the first leg. After the 12 buses of competitors made their way down to the south shore and a few more up laps of some of the more aggressive swimmers, the bullhorn sounded to start the race off. Many of the less aggressive swimmers hung back a little, as the start was a very crowed area. But all at once the water started churning with hundreds of swimmers as they started off.

The start of the race looked like a feeding frenzy at a fish hatchery as arms and legs started the long trek. This chaos quickly sorted itself off as swimmers found their routes and the faster swimmers started breaking away. At this point we found out the swimmers ranged in age from 6 to 83 and they had all ranges of physical levels. And half of the fun of this part of the race was trying to spot people you knew in the water as they worked their way past.
After a mere 20 minutes it was time to make our way down to the finish as the first swimmer was not far out from the end. Luckily we had our bikes so the almost two mile trip down to the end took a few brief moments. We watched as the first guy crossed the finish line at a little over 25 minutes and a few minutes after him were 2-5 places. From this point it was a steady stream of swimmers coming in and I decided the best way to get pictures was to get my feet wet. Lucky for me there was plenty of room to stand in mid calf deep water and photograph the swimmers coming in. The water felt a little over 70 degrees so it was perfect to be in, although most of the swimmers had on wet suits to comfort them against the chill of the deeper water.

This was a great event for the whole family. Next year my wife wants to swim it which means I might just have to find myself in a kayak following her progress, ah poor me…