First World Open Water Champs Begin Today

By Phillip Whitten

HONOLULU, October 31. COMPETITION begins this morning on Waikiki Beach for the first FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships. Some 164 competitors representing 34 nations are expected to compete in the clear blue waters of Waikiki in three official open water events: the 5K (3.1 miles), 10K (6.2 miles) and 25 K (15.5 miles.)

The venue is a fitting one for such a prestigious event: open water swimming has long been a tradition here, even before the great Duke Kahanamoku built his reputation in these very waters.

Some 400 local staff volunteers, 150 motor craft, 40 safety personnel and 30 interpreters have been organized by meet director Dr. Sam Freas to manage the event.

The 5K competition will be held on October 31st, the 10K on November 2nd, and the 25K event to be concluded on November 4th.

In addition to the FINA Championship events there are 1K, 3K and 5K Age Division Events that are open to any swimmer who is a member of their countries swimming federation (age group or Masters programs).

THE COURSES
The following is a description of the courses for each of the races:

1K: Hilton Hawaiian Village Hotel
Start at Hilton pier, out channel to buoy, then back to pier

3K Hilton Hawaiian Village Hotel
Start at Hilton pier, out channel to buoy, left turn to turnaround buoy (submarine) and back to the pier.

5K Hilton Hawaiian Village Hotel
Start at Hilton pier, out channel to buoy, left turn to turnaround (submarine) buoy and back to the pier.

10K Hilton Hawaiian Village Hotel
Start at Hilton pier, out channel to buoy, two laps to turnaround buoy (submarine) and back to the pier.

25K Hilton Hawaiian Village Hotel
Course to be determined.

AGE DIVISIONS
FINA Championship Events
5K, 10K & 25K
One open division – Male & Female

1K, 3K & 5K
11 & 12, 13 & 14, 15-18, 19-24, 25-29, 30-34, 35-39, 40-44, 45-49, 50-54, 55-59, 60-64, 65-69, etc.- Male & Female

LIST OF ENTRANTS
The following is a list of the competitors entered in the 1st FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships

Country
Team Entrant Sex Age Events

ARGENTINA (ARG)
Damian Blaum male 5K 10K 25K
Rafael Perez male 5K 10K 25K
Gonzalo Diaz Miret male 5K 10K
Gabriel Chaillou male 25K
Celeste Punet female 5K 10K 25K
Pilar Geijo female 5K 10K 25K
Laura Bastiani female 5K 10K 25K

AUSTRALIA (AUS)
Stephen Penfold male 18 5K
Ky Hurst male 19 5K
Leigh Bool male 18 10K
Mark Saliba male 21 10K 25K
Josh Santacanterina male 20 25K
Hayley Lewis female 26 5K
Brooke Townsend female 20 5K 10K
Trudee Hutchinson female 19 10K
Shelley Clark female 19 25K
Melissa Irwin female 16 25K

BELGIUM (BEL)
Cindy Persoons female 19 10K 25K

BRAZIL (BRA)
Carlos E. Pavao male 25 10K
Guilherme Bier male 25 10K
Viviane Motti female 26 5K 10K

CAMBODIA (CAM)
Sok Veasna male 28 5K
Hem Lumphat male 24 5K 10K
Hem Kiri male 20 5K 10K
Long Saleap male 22 10K
Khiev San male 20 10K

CAMEROON
Mathias Ond Ond male 19 5K
Thierry Atanga male 21 5K
Ngoko M Ganang male 21 10K
M Belmond Atanga male 16 10K
Jacques Zing Zomo male 21 10K
Peter Che Niba male 21 25K
Andre M Bayemi male 19 25K
T. Viviane Emeni female 21 5K
Anne Che Mambo female 24 25K

CANADA (CAN)
Tim Cowan male 5K 10K
David Bilodeau male 5K 10K
Dave Ling male 25K
Liam Weseloh male 25K
Jennifer Coombs female 5K 10K
Karley Stutzel female 5K 10K
Maxime Mentha female 25K
Nadia Bolduc female 25K

CAYMAN ISLANDS (CAY)
Shaune Fraser male 12 5K
Kaitlyn Elphinstone female 14 5K

COSTA RICA (CRC)
Kurt Niehaus male 19 5K

CUBA (CUB)
Andres Perez Gonzalez male 19 5K 25K

CZECH REPUBLIC (CZE)
Pavel Srb male 20 5K 25K
Jana Pechanova female 19 5K 10K

ECUADOR (ECU)
Adolfo Rivadeneira male 17 5K
Gregory Fuentes Cali male 30 25K

EGYPT (EGY)
Abdelaha Hassen male 20 10K 25K
Hateh Saif male 29 10K 25K
Mohamed Hassen male 17 25K
Mohamed Marof male 25K
Haba Ali female 17 25K

FIJI (FIJ)
Carl Probert male 5K

FRANCE (FRA)
Stephane Gomez male 24 5K 10K 25K
Emmanuel Poissier male 25 5K 10K 25K
Stephane Lecat male 29 5K 25K
Audrey Boitte female 21 5K 10K 25K

GERMANY (GER)
Ben Hoffman male 21 5K
Christof Wandratsch male 33 5K 10K 25K
Christian Hansmann male 23 5K 25K
Andreas Maurer male 21 10K
Andre Wilde male 28 10K 25K
Peggy Buchse female 28 5K 10K 25K
Britta Kamrau female 21 5K 10K 25K
Angela Maurer female 25 5K 10K 25K

GREAT BRITAIN (GBR)
Greg Orphanides male 22 5K
Matthew Kaiser male 17 5K
Paula Wood female 20 5K 10K

GREECE (GRE)
Georgios Tsianos male 24 10K 25K

HUNGARY (HUN)
Marton Toszegi male 20 5K 10K
Akos Gyorffy male 29 5K 25K
Balazs Cseldnyi male 21 10K 25K
Eszter Balazs female 20 5K 10K 25K

INDIA (IND)
Patel Arnit male 22 5K
Patel Chintan male 23 10K
Bhargava Prateek male 21 10K
Mehta Mayur male 16 25K
Naha Ganesh male 24 25K

ITALY (ITA)
Fabio Venturini male 23 5K
Luca Baldini male 26 5K 10K
Samuele Pampana male 24 10K
Simone Ercoli male 10K
Fabio Fusi male 31 25K
Claudio Gargaro male 28 25K
Valeria Casprini female 24 5K 10K 25K
Viola Valli female 28 5K 10K 25K
Melissa Pasquali female 28 10K

JAPAN (JAP)
Hiroki Hikida male 28 5K 25K

MACEDONIA (MKD)
Mihajlo Ristorski male 17 10K
Tomi Stefanovski male 29 25K
Biljana Cokovic female 18 10K

NETHERLANDS (NED)
Maarten van der Weijden male 5K 10K
Etta van der Weijden female 5K 10K 25K
Edith van Dyk female 5K 10K 25K

NEW ZEALAND (NZL)
Scott Shepherd male 18 5K 10K
Carl Gordon male 27 5K 10K

NORTHERN MARIANAS
Seung Gin Lee male 15 5K

RUSSIA (RUS)
Evgueni Bezroutchenko male 23 5K 10K
Alexi Akatiev male 26 5K 25K
Vladimir Diatchin male 18 10K
Iouri Koudinov male 21 25K
Irina Abyssova female 20 5K 10K
Olga Gousseva female 24 25K
Ekaterina Gavrioutina female 17 10K
Natalia Pankina female 17 25K

SOUTH AFRICA (RSA)
Marieka Theunissen female 26 5K

SPAIN (ESP)
David Meca male 26 5K 10K 25K

SWITZERLAND (SUI)
Adrian Andermatt male 31 5K 10K

UNITED STATES (USA)
Steven McLeod male 22 5K
John Flanagan male 25 5K
Ben Hanley male 20 10K
Matt Martin male 21 10K
Mark Leonard male 22 25K
John Kenny male 20 25K
Kalyn Keller female 15 5K
Annie Stein female 15 5K
Megan Ryther female 21 10K
Dawn Heckman female 23 10K
Briley Bergan female 17 25K
Regan Scheiber female 27 25K

URUGUAY
Carlos Villavicencia male 10K

VENEZUELA (VEN)
Danny Chocron male 25K
Jenny Fuentes female 5K

YUGOSLAVIA (YUG)
Miodrag Vasic male 25 5K 10K 25K

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