ABU DHABI // With enhanced safety provisions, top-flight open-water swimming returns to the UAE four years after the death of Fran Crippen in a Fina 10-kilometre event in Fujairah.
Crippen, a four-time US champion, died of heat exertion, a report found. The race was held in October 2010 and the report published in the International Journal of Sport Communication said the race was “set up to fail, given the air temperature, the heat of the water, and apparently a lack of supervision”.
Friday, swimming’s governing body, Fina, hosts a 10km swim in Abu Dhabi and organisers are confident every precaution has been taken to ensure swimmer safety.
Independent water-safety consultants Swim Safety have been in the capital over the past few weeks to oversee the swimming festival, the triathlon and this event.
For a start, water temperatures are predicted to be within the optimum swimming range.
“Water temperatures consistently for the last two weeks have been around 21-22 degrees at most,” said Martin Suzan, the race safety officer and water safety manager at Swim Safety.
“That is optimum for swimming and a nice temperature for those coming from abroad.
“In many ways the guys coming from Brazil and Australia might even be a little chilly but from a safety perspective, it’s fine and there should be no issues of hypothermia. The conditions are right for it, but we also take a view on the morning of the event itself.”
A test race on February 23 using local swimmers, went off without incident.
The course also is concentrated in a smaller area. Some open-water events have a 10km-long point-to-point course, but, increasingly, courses are based on completing laps of shorter distances.
In Abu Dhabi, the course is rectangular and 2km in length so the swimmers have to complete five laps to finish the race. That, said Suzan, will allow better oversight of the swimmers in the water.
“It is more controllable and has more structure,” he said.
As well as having an overall medical director, two doctors and a couple of ambulances standing by, 55 rescue personnel will be on the water through the course, overseeing nearly 100 participants.
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