Canada’s Lac Magog will drop off of FINA’s Open Water World Cup series for 2015 after event organizers withdrew their 10K and 34K events.
Swim organizers announced the withdrawal in a press release today, citing the high costs of hosting a FINA event.
The race was scheduled for July 30th, and was to be the 8th stop of FINA’s Marathon Swimming World Cup tour. The Lac Magog event was one of three to be hosted in Canada.
You can find the event’s full press release here, in its original French. The press release notes the high cost associated with hosting a FINA event, including FINA’s increased requirements for lodging, meals, transportation and more. The release notes the difficulty the organizing committee has had in lining up sponsors, and references the 2014 version of the event as a “nightmare scenario.”
Lac Magog isn’t alone in struggling with the cost of hosting international swimming events. Mexico recently pulled out of hosting the 2017 World Championships due to financial difficulties; even the United States ruled out taking on the event themselves, calling the event “impossible” due to the economic requirements.
Meanwhile, Lac Magog plans to return its open water competition to its previous format in future years, bringing back a 42-kilometer crossing of the lake that focuses more on amateur swimmers and athletes of all ages, rather than the professional focus of the FINA Marathon Swimming World Cup.
The press release also mentions that in addition to dropping out of FINA, they may join the newly formed Global Swim Series.
The GSS has a much more inclusive business plan (ie much less expensive for races to join, $99 vs $15,000) and a much more inclusive philosophy about trying to bring together as many open water races and swimmers from around the world as possible.
As the President of the newly formed Global Swim Series we would be excited to have the classic “La Traversée Internationale du lac Memphrémagog” join the ever-growing list of races that have signed up from: Canada, the US, Ireland, Barbados, Brazil… along with several other countries in the works! Over 20,000 swimmers,… Read more »
Kind of a shame. I wonder, though, if they are going to work with the Kingdom Swim organization on their swim.
http://www.insearchofmemphre.com/