U.S. Team Will Return to Los Angeles Before Departing for Rescheduled Pan Pacs Open Water

The American swimmers who were scheduled to race at the 2014 Pan Pac Championships in the open water 10km race will return home to Los Angeles before heading back west to Hawaii, the agent for one member of the team shared with SwimSwam Sunday.

The open water 10k at the Pan Pacs on the Gold Coast in Australia has been rescheduled for next Monday in Hawaii in conjunction with the Jr. Pan Pac Championships. After the rain that Southport has experienced all weekend, the Southport Spit Marine Stadium was deemed to be too dangerous for competition, with the same agent telling us that there were concerns over high levels of E. Coli – which in many cases can cause “food poisoning.”

This sent teams in a scramble to re-book trips and to get athletes back to Hawaii.

The American team, rather than a direct flight to Hawaii (which will be on their way home from Brisbane to the Los Angeles rendezvous point), the American open water team will return to the United States on Tuesday. The schedule will then see the swimmers who choose to re-plan for the new Hawaiian site to head back west to Hawaii on Thursday and prepare to race on Monday. None of the host nations have announced yet that all of their athletes plan to make the trip in the early hours after the decision, but more details are expected on Monday morning when teams awake in Australia and have more time to settle down and confirm plans.

The Americans who were entered in the 10k at Pan Pacs:

• Haley Anderson
• Eva Fabian
• Christine Jennings
• Becca Mann
• Andrew Gemmell
• Alex Meyer
• Sean Ryan
• Jordan Wilimovsky
• Michael McBroom

(Note that McBroom didn’t race at open water nationals to qualify for the meet, but added the event after qualifying for the pool team).