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Active Richmond

This year as the sport of open water swimming prepares for its Olympic Games debut in Beijing, Richmond's open water enthusiasts are readying themselves for the James River Splash set for June 14 at Robious Landing Park.

"Open water swimming has become extremely popular," says Terry Sue Gault , a masters open swimming expert and the event's organizer. "People like the challenge of being in the open water, just completing something."

Set in the open water at Robious Landing Park in Chesterfield County, the James River Splash   is for competent, trained adult or child swimmers. The start is near the canoe boat launch. The course will proceed up the river to a buoy that will be at the half-mile mark. The return portion of the course will be marked with buoys to keep the swimmers going in opposite directions.

The adults or experienced kids can go for the one-mile distance, while the 400 meters race -- 200 meters up and 200 meters back -- is also open for younger swimmers. The kids go off first at 9 a.m.; adults start at 9:30 a.m. "The kids get into it because it's so different," says Gault.

"You have no walls, no lines to sight off," she adds. "You're in a group with people on top of you, and like in marathon running, there are breakaway groups."

And apparently, unlike in a pool, the strategy changes with the current. "We have the swimmers go upstream close to the bank," says Gault. "Then once they turn the buoy, they'll be out in the current."

While not as numerous as their pool-bound cousins, open water swimmers are found throughout the Richmond area. There are groups that swim out of ACAC, SwimQuest and NOVA. And of course, there are a lot of folks who get into open water swimming as preparation for triathlon. "The James River Splash is good practice for triathlon, so we get a lot of folks signing up for that reason, too," says Gault.

Entries for the James River Splash One-Miler or the 400m Kids Swim are still open at www.sportsbackers.org .