Fat Salmon lands at the Park

Though it was a typically gray and chilly July morning in Seattle, the air temperature was probably not much on the minds of the more than 300 long-distance swimmers to who took to the waters of Lake Washington yesterday for the Fat Salmon races. The water temperature, in the mid-to-high 60s, was certainly of more consequence to these hardy souls, many of whom didn’t bother with wetsuits.

The first swimmer piled ashore with a time of only one hour and five minutes for the 3-mile swim from I-90 to the beach. That’s pretty fast for a course where I’m told an hour fifteen is considered a very good time. There was also a shorter swim of just over a mile from Denny-Blaine Park, with about half the swimmers in Fat Salmon electing to take that route to Madison Park.

For good reason, few of those coming ashore sprinted up the beach. But as sun came out, food was served, and awards were given, the recovered swimmers could look back proudly on a race well swum.