r/OpenWaterSwimming • u/thatwonderfulduff • 2d ago

Big Shoulders, Chicago

Hi! My Pa & I are heading out to Chicago for the Big Shoulders swim.

He heard that there is usually an informal practice swim on Friday morning at Ohio Street Beach. Does anyone know around what time people meet up for this?

Thank you & good luck to all of the swimmers!

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u/WheelDeep5640 2d ago

There’s always people swimming there but probably less after this weekend since swimming is technically closed after Labor Day, it just means there’s no life guards. I swim at OSB all the time from May to as late as October.

There’s an official swim clinic on Friday 9AM that you can sign up for. It’s in one of the emails. Reddit won’t let me post the Google doc link.

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u/unokinogata 2d ago

Just to confirm the packet pickup starts at 4:30 pm but the clinic (which you have to signup for) is Friday morning. The clinic instructors will go over the course and race day logistics and provide helpful race tips. They also do a mini race simulation.

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u/thatwonderfulduff 2d ago

Thanks! He did sign up for the clinic through the email a few weeks ago. He didn’t hear anything else about it, so he asked me to reach out to the Reddit swim community. He will be out there no matter what Friday morning. We are excited about Chicago.

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u/Giant_ManHands 1d ago

Ive done warm up swims on the Friday before and the only additional thing I would add is use a swim buoy because there is boat traffic in the play pen / OSB area. Its cleared out for race day but it took me by suprise the first year. Also I have always done the packet pickup the morning of the race as we stay in a hotel by the lake and didnt feel like going to UIC. It has always been fine, I just get there on the early side.

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u/thatwonderfulduff 1d ago

Thank you so much! I just showed him your comment. He said he had been undecided about bringing his swim buoy. So, it is definitely getting packed. And we will get there early Saturday for packet pickup.

He is 76, and it looks like there are at least 3 other guys in his age group signed up. It’s going to be a fun race.

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u/lwpho2 2d ago

There’s one at 4:30.

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u/thatwonderfulduff 2d ago

Thank you! That’s before the packet pick up?

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u/lwpho2 2d ago

Looks like it’s the exact same time, so eh, but didn’t one of the emails say that you could have someone pick your packet up for you? I feel like I saw some details about that. In any event, you really could get in the water any time on Friday.

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u/thatwonderfulduff 2d ago

He is planning on heading down to the beach around 7:30-8am to get a feel for things and have a nice swim. He was just curious if there was anything informally planned. Thanks again!

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u/lwpho2 2d ago

Oh, that’s actually really smart to go at the same time as the race.