From late spring to early fall, a number of athletic competitions draw swimmers like Jennifer Barker to Wrightsville Beach to race through the open ocean or flatwater channels, but there’s one race in particular Barker looks forward to more than the others.
“Swim the Loop is my favorite race of the year,” she said. “It’s a true swimmers’ challenge.”
The fourth annual Swim the Loop will be held Sunday, Sept. 27. Barker and more than 100 other participants will jump into the Intracoastal Waterway behind the Dockside Restaurant and swim a 3.5-mile clockwise loop through Lees Cut, Banks Channel and Motts Channel, finishing where they started.
Race director Kristen Smith expects around 200 competitors total because the event also offers a 1.3-mile course from the Blockade Runner Beach Resort to Dockside Restaurant. She said she added the shorter distance to open the event up to more ability levels because the 3.5-mile loop is a challenge.
“I asked people for constructive criticism, and the biggest complaint I got is that it’s too hard,” she said. “So I added the shorter race so you have an option to still be a part of the event. It’s nice to have options, because not everyone can swim the loop but they love swimming as much as I do.”
While the difficult nature of the race is a deterrent for some, it’s a draw for others. This year, swimmers are traveling from Pennsylvania, Florida, Connecticut and Canada to race the loop course, which Smith said is one of only two open-water loop swims on the East Coast.
Open water swimmers typically race from one point to another, with the current pushing them, but during a loop course more than half the race is against the current.
Smith called the race a “hard swim,” and she has raced tough courses all over the world, including a 12-hour, 75-kilometer swim-run race in Sweden called the ÖTILLÖ.
Swim the Loop is “like a marathon for swimmers,” Barker added, but it’s also a beautiful course.
“I feel so connected to nature,” she said. “It’s an easy course to spot because you’re just hugging the island the whole time. And Kristen’s got safety boats and paddleboarders and canoes everywhere so it’s a very safe event to do.”
After the race, competitors and their families are invited to stick around at the Dockside for refreshments and awards, which include several lighthearted prizes.
“We give away a few fun awards, like the middle-of-the-pack swimmer, the best entry into the water, and sometimes whoever came in 23rd, because that’s my lucky number,” Smith said. “I just try to make it fun for everybody.”
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