Hi all,

The Patty Center will be closed at 7 p.m. from now until January 20, so no Monday or Wednesday evening workouts until then (UAF SRC hours:  http://www.uaf.edu/src/srcpages/08holidayhours.pdf).  It looks like other than the main holidays, I think it will be open for lap swim.  I have an email into Scott to see if we can have Saturday practices (since the Patty Center is supposed to be open on Saturday at 9 a.m.).  I will be out of town until the start of January, and I'll let you know my plans for practice/lap-swim when I return.

On a different note, now that we have a sanction for next summer’s open water swim, there is a whole host of things that need to get done. I have attached a draft of the race description and entry form. Other than the date and distances, I think most of this still can still be changed if people think it’s not reasonable.  Anyway, we need volunteers for the following:

1. Setting up a web site with entry information, directions, etc.. We need to decide whether to have registration through active.com or something similar.

2. Publicity – get the event listed in directories, web sites for open water swims, USMS web site, etc.. Later, post fliers, notify newspaper, and so on.

3. Come up with awards and “goodie bag” and cost out to make sure we are roughly meeting costs.
   Do we need sponsors? If so, someone needs to rustle them up.

4. Course marking. Someone has to come up with plan for obtaining buoys, accurately marking course, deploying and later retrieving materials on race day.

5. Race day operations.  Someone needs to be responsible for coming up with a Race clock, tables, hospitality food and water, etc., keeping records, and so on.

6. Arranging and coordinating canoes/kayaks and safety volunteers.

7. I’ll keep track of entries, entry fees, unless someone else wants to.

8. A design for t-shirts (or whatever’s in the goodie bag).

If you can think of other stuff, please let me know. We need to get the web site up and running in January and start publicizing this thing.  So, please email me to volunteer, and thanks in advance for the help.

If you want to read up on this yourself, the guide to putting on open water swims can be found at:  http://www.usms.org/longdist/owman.pdf.

Have a great holidays, and I'll see you all in January!

Robbie

-- Dr. Robert R. Herrick
Geophysical Institute
University of Alaska Fairbanks
903 Koyukuk Dr.
Fairbanks, AK 99775-7320
Ph: (907) 474-6445
Fax: (907) 474-7290