Fat Salmon lands at Madison Park Beach

It's annual ritual here for the swimmers of the Fat Salmon Open Water Swim to arrive on our shore sometime in mid-summer. This year marked the 13th anniversary edition of the race, which includes both a 3.2-mile and a 1.2-mile course. The first swimmer out of the water (that hardy soul without a full wetsuit above) was from the 3.2 mile race, with a time of 1:12 minutes, give or take a few seconds. The water temperature at the beach today was in the neighborhood of 68 degrees, though it was certainly lower than that over most the race course.

And yes, there really is a fat salmon payoff at the end for those swimmers who win their respective races. This is race director Liz Rosen getting up close and personal with one of the "trophies" last year:

[Lower photo courtesy of Fat Salmon.]