H2Open National Series

Across the pond, our friends at H2Open Magazine have developed a national ranking system. You swim at least 3 OW swims out of 7, and you are ranked amongst your sex and age range. They've got races all over Scotland, England and Wales, so Brit swimmers from all over can probably find 3 swims they can do. This got me thinking...

I know in the states we have the GLOW series, in the Great Lakes states. A series of seven (7, Evan, is that right?) OW races in the states that touch the lakes. You earn points then a series winner is crowned, as I understand it.*  But are there others? USMS has OW championships, but do swimmers earn points and then get placed among their peers?

And why not have these series in other areas of the country?  How about US-wide?  How about every USMS-sanctioned OW race have some sort of points system. At the end of the year the guy/gal with the most points gets the label "Most OW Swims Swum," or, more appropriately, "OW Swimmer with Biggest Expense Account"?

I like the idea of the most well-rounded OW swimmer. A swimmer who's done the widest range of distances and conditions. Perhaps everything from 1-mile to 10K, from lake or river to sea or ocean? There are so few races at the 25K or so distance, and many of these have limited fields, so I think 10K would be the best for the "long-distance" category.  There are plenty of 10Ks in the states. 

I like how H2Open does the point system. Basically, first place in your sex and age group equals 1000 points, with each place below that being 10% less (rounded up to nearest whole number). In my imaginary well-rounded swimmer series, I envision three race categories: sub-5K (but at least one mile, perhaps?), 5K-9.9K, 10K. You can race as many of them as you want, but your total standing will be based on your best points in each of the categories. But how do you think we should integrate different water conditions?

What say you, dear reader(s)?

*I can find info all over my internet machine about the GLOW series in 2010 and 2011, but nothing on 2012. I hope they haven't stopped doing the series...

Comments

[Rob D.]

The USMS National Championships do generate points and you can finish up the season as a long distance allstar if you place highly, frequently... I'd imagine Evan probably picked one of those up in 2010.

Some LMSCs have a points contest for open water races. I know Pacific Masters (NorCal) and Southern Pacific (SoCal) track points for top 3 age group finishes and then publish a list of swimmers at the end of the season. Generally every sanctioned swim is eligible for points so you get a mix of distances although most tend to be 1-2 miles.

[Evan]

Yes, USMS does do this - it's called the "Long Distance All-Stars." They also do a similar thing for pool swimming, for whoever has the most #1 finishes in the Top Ten for each age group.

[Evan]

It's flawed, in the sense that the folks w/ disposable time & income to travel to all the OW Nat Champs have an advantage... though the LD All Stars include the postal swims, which make it a bit fairer.