One Hour Swim–Postal 1

The One Hour Swim for 2020 has ended and the results will be in an upcoming Aqua Master.  Eighty-nine Oregon-registered swimmers swam and entered the event.

I did the One Hour Postal swim this year for the first time, and it was not as bad as I thought it would be.  In the last 6 of my regular workouts I swam 1000 yards for the warm-up, just to see whether I could swim that far without stopping while trying to keep an even pace that seemed possible to maintain.  (In the “Coaches Chair” article on page 5, there is some good advice for anyone wanting to swim a longer distance.)

Now, you probably wonder why I am writing about the One Hour Swim Postal after the event is over, and won’t be held again for an entire year!

On behalf of the Oregon LMSC, Bob Bruce bid to host the One Hour Swim Postal National Championships in 2021, and was awarded the bid.  There are a couple of things involved with hosting the One  Hour Swim that I wanted to bring to your attention; a couple goals.

1. Bob bid for the event specifically to make some money for the LMSC. And the LMSC will, provided we have enough participation nationwide.  The Oregon LMSC subsidizes a lot of programs and events of which the membership might not be aware.  Money earned by the Oregon LMSC from hosting events has helped keep your USMS membership prices down, meet entries lower, and has funded other events like the Association meet socials and subsidizing every swim meet.  However, next year USMS is changing the amount of the registration fee and the way registration fees are distributed to the LMSCs*.  As a result, the Oregon LMSC won’t be receiving as much money as in the past.  So hosting events is our best means of raising additional funds for the LMSC to continue our excellent programs.  Fortunately, Oregon has some wonderful volunteers who put in a lot of effort to host both local and national events (Open Water, Nationals, ePostals, etc.).  Thank you volunteers!
2. Participation is crucial for this project to succeed! Bob’s goal for Oregon is for EVERY swimmer to swim and enter the One Hour Swim in 2021.  We MUST generate enough interest in this event so the Oregon LMSC can continue providing a high level of programming and the Oregon Club will be #1 in the country for the One Hour Swim in the Overall scoring category, which it has never done before!

The One Hour Swim is a Postal National Championship that runs from January 1 to February 28 each year.  It can be done in any standard size pool 25 yards or longer; your distance will be converted to yards if needed.  Someone times and counts lengths for each swimmer, writing the time per every two lengths on an official split sheet.  Then the swimmer enters the Postal online.  Simple!

In order to reach these goals each of us have to commit to swimming the One Hour Swim, and to encouraging out-of-Oregon swimmers to participate

The data sheet below shows the winners of the One Hour Swim since 1998. It gives you an idea of how many swimmers the Oregon LMSC may need to win. New England Masters (NEM) has had 625 swimmers maximum; that is less than our current membership of 948, so if we all decide to swim this event, we can be #1. Don’t expect that others will do it so you don’t have to; take responsibility and, “Just Do It”. We ALL can make a commitment to this event. Thanks so much for your help in making this possible.

One-Hour overall winners since 1998

*This first year, 2021, fees will be $60 across the nation; division of the fees is 80% / 20%, i.e. USMS gets $48; the LMSC gets $12.  Cost of membership will be totally out of the hands of the LMSCs.