A couple of weeks ago, SwimRVA hosted the annual open water swimming event, the DownRiver Rip, and this year was record-breaking!

The DownRiver Rips is a 4.4 mile open water swimming event that focuses on speed. It’s the perfect way to kick off the beginning of the season! Accomplishing this race, no matter what your time is and what you place, is bound to set your season of swimming up positively. An event built on mutual excitement and respect for swimming and the participants in the race perfectly represents the SwimRVA Hammerheads.

The 2022 DownRiver Rip was the fastest field that we have held thus far, and with that came a new course record! James Crabb ended up swimming a time of 1:00:59, the fastest time that we have seen throughout the years! The overall female winner was Denise Letendre, and she swam a 1:09:03, which was 2:34 off her own course record.

For those who are already looking forward to next year’s DownRiver Rip, registration will open this summer for the event. We hope that this event continues to grow and reach more swimmers!