To me, there’s something quite special about the moment someone enters the water to begin a marathon swim. It’s an act of great courage; a willing surrender to a foreign and potentially dangerous environment; an acceptance of inevitable pain and struggle soon to be experienced.
The moment is even more dramatic when “entering the water” requires jumping from a dock – as in MIMS. Tom M. (a.k.a. bklynpolar on Flickr) and his camera were on the dock for the MIMS start, and captured these moments for a number of swimmers. Here are the “jump shots” for the top 8 seeds, in descending order. Click to enlarge.
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- Sarah Thomas, USA. 7:36:20 (5th)
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- Michael Gregory, AUS. 8:10:52 (11th)
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- Evan Morrison, USA. 7:34:37 (3rd)
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- Miguel Suner, ESP. 7:38:02 (6th)
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- Miguel Arrobas, PRT. 7:46:38 (7th)
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- Erica Rose, USA. 7:29:46 (1st).
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- Oliver Wilkinson, AUS. 7:34:47 (4th).
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- John Van Wisse, AUS. 7:33:50 (2nd).
best jump is a toss up between sarah and miguel, though miguel (hands down) gets the best suit from this group…. the jh20′s would probably take take the prize in a run-off
I’m gonna go with Sarah on this one. That is one hell of an enthusiastic jump.
Does anyone ever canonball?
Sully, MIMS 2012.
Just discovered your blog, Evan! I’ve enjoyed reading it. As a side bar, the reason the jump was so enthusiastic was because I’m not all that coordinated- I actually slipped on my way in.
Hey Sarah! Looks pretty graceful to me – at least at the moment of the picture. Didn’t see the parts right before & after, which I suppose are key
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