On july 4th , our club invites visitors here for the 70.3 to join us for our annual sunrise swim swim for strength.
One simple click can help our coomunity become stronger, healthier, and live more active and adventurous lives.
The Sunrise Swim for Strength has been a tradition since 2015 and is our club’s way of welcoming athletes and visitors from around the world to our community.
Local triathletes and swimmers are fortunate to gather at sunrise a couple of times a week at Camp Kitchen to enjoy a swim out into Fairy Lake, with one of the favorite swim routes being the 1.6km trip around Alice Island.
We want to share this with our guests coming for the Ironman 70.3 Muskoka weekend.
The event has been renamed The Swim at ‘Don’ after local triathlon legend Don McCormick passed away in 2021. Don was an inspiration to us all.
Don was a strong advocate for not only triathlon in our community, but he was also an individual who was a change-maker in our community in order to ensure that all of our community residents have access to publicly accessible fitness equipment and trails.
In his honour and to continue in his efforts to make our community a vibrant and active community, the Sunrise Swim will aid in our efforts to raise money for THE MSCLE PROJECT otherwise known as the Movement for Strength, Conditioning, and active Lifestyles for Everyone. Read more about it here. The funds raised through this initiative go into funding local projects , athletes, teams, and initiatives whose primary goal is to increase the engagement of community residents and visitors in exercise as a primary form of treatment for medical, mental, orthopedic and metabolic health conditions at all ages, regardless of fitness level, physical ability, or socioeconomic status. The main benefactor from the money raised are the MOVE Fitness Parks that are installed around our community. Visit www.movefitnesspark.ca for more information.
Want to see where everything is happening? take a look at this Interactive Map!
This map goes over everything:
where to park
where the swim goes
where the coffee dock is
and most importantly, where to get your sticky bun
Note that you are swimming out and back, so feel free to turn around at any point that you feel you have had enough of a warm up! Come on back to the dock for coffee, sticky buns, and breakfast!
A number of our members from TriMuskoka, our local triathlon club will be there both swimming and volunteering. So, ask us questions as we swim here all the time.
As always, those who come will be told the secret of swimming upstream in the river towards the exit.
the schedule of events: swim. eat. drink. laugh and be merry.
6:15am
Park behind the Active Living Center or at the parking lot by the hill just by the train station and walk down Camp Kitchen Road to get to Camp Kitchen. It is about a 10-minute stroll. Bring whatever you want to have there. There is a place where you can put your bag and gear while you swim. Don’t worry, we will keep a good eye on it!
Participant check-in commences for the swim at Camp Kitchen. Park at the back of the Canada Summit Centre (click here for the link) near the Active Living Centre (there will be signs) and walk down to Camp Kitchen which is about a 10-minute walk
7:00am
Pre-event announcements will take place at Camp Kitchen. The 70.3 swim starts at 7 am, so you will have the exact amount of lighting that you will have the next morning!
7:15am
Hop in the water and swim the 1.6km course or any part thereof. This is not a race and is a great chance to get out for a swim and do a little course recon at the same time. So, stop and look around. Figure out your points for sighting while the waters are calm. We just want to spread the swimmers out a bit so that people get back to the coffee dock in a staggered fashion.
We think that the dock would sink if everyone came back at the same time!
The buoys will be set up in the exact location that the race will be using, so you will literally be swimming on the course.
We have added section where you swim around Alice Island to get to the 1.6km distance.
Stop at the 2nd buoy and look at where the second turn will be so you can get a landmark to sight off of for the next morning. Turn around anywhere you want to head back to the coffee dock and for some tasty homemade treats for breakfast!
7:45am
Get back to Camp Kitchen at your pace and swim up to the coffee dock. Enjoy a cuppa coffee or tea, and then swim ashore for some tasty homemade baked goods including the oh so famous Henrietta’s Pine Bakery sticky buns. There is also a whole buffet of fruit, yogurt, juice, muffins (both gluten free and gluten full), and a whole bunch of yummy goodness to fuel you for the race the next day courtesy of Bullock’s Your Independent Grocer.
8:30am
Pack up with a smile on your face….wish each other well on a great race the next day, and then get back to everything else that you had planned for Saturday!
THANK YOU TO ALL SPONSORS, PARTICIPANTS AND VOLUNTEERS
