It’s Time For Swimmers To Get Out Of The Pool And Get Into This Dangerous River

It’s high time for swimmers to graduate from the gentle waters of indoor swimming and begin the practice of racing each other in the real thing—a class IV rapids river. For far too long we’ve asked too little of our athletes. They deserve better, and so do we. 

Haven’t we had enough of the pool and not nearly enough of my backyard river of unknown danger? There is no practical application to swimming endless laps, while swimming in a river not only tests swimmers and serves as a form of travel. We don’t allow tennis players to play without a net, so why do we allow swimmers to race without a natural current? 

I’ve been swimming in my backyard tributary for over 30 years and I’ve only had 6 medical scares, so I know it will work. Imagine an 800 meter race with an Olympian squeaking over an algae covered rock to win the race? It’s time for all swimmers to get into my personal river—today if possible. You want to swim? You want to be a real athlete, a real man? You need to plunge into a real freezing, dangerous river. Did I mention the ice?

When man was born there were no pools, and when man dies there will be no pools again. And as someone who has never even been in a pool, I say It’s time we face the inevitable and start swimming among the otters and salmon and that snapping turtle I saw there last week. What are we waiting for?