Bigger FlowersOne-Mile Swim
The annual Flowers One Mile Sea Swim (FOMSS)is the largest sporting event in the Cayman Islands and one ofthe world's most prestigious swimming events. This Year, organizersare planning for a large field of swimmers, hoping to toplastyear's record participation of 525.
Six Olympic swimmers from around the worldare already confirmed for thisrace and local swimmers have alreadybegun to register to secure theirplace. To this end, Swimmer'sWorld Magazine recently reviewed FOMMS as one of the top swimsin the world.
The event is gaining a reputation as theworld's fastest, richest purse in competitive swimming with over$60,000 in cash and random prizes.
FOMMS has become a well-attended event onthe Cayman Islandscalendar and has often been categorized as anafternoon activity withentertainment for the entire family ratherthan an actual athletic competition. Part of the cache of theFlowers Sea Swim is the mix of competitive spirit, whichincludesan overwhelming consideration for the casual swimmer.
This year's FOMSS will be held on Saturday,15 June. The race will start at the Ritz Carlton site on SevenMile Beach and finish at the Royal Palms.
There will be staggered starts, with themen and elite swimmers (under 20minutes) starting at 3:45 andthe women starting at 4:00.
There is an extensive collection of trophies,including top male and female overall Winners, as well as thetop 4 places in 26 age groups, from the childhood beginner tothe seasoned recreational swimmer. There are no losers as allfinishers receive a medal, tee shirt, and refreshments, and participantsfinishing under 75 minutes are eligible for the random prizes.
Approximately one in every five finishersreceives a prize, which include over 50 Cayman Airways tickets,two British Airways tickets to London, restaurant vouchers, cashprizes, Atlantis dives, Red Sails Sports gift certificates andjewelry.
Best of all, if you are one of the fasterswimmers there is a male and female first place purse of US$2,000each, and a US$10,000 cash prize for the top male finishing in16 minutes and female finishing in 17:21 minutes to set the world'sfastest ocean mile record.
The registration fee is US$20.00 or CI$15.00,which includes race pack of tee-shirt and other give-always, requiredswim cap, and post-race refreshments and entertainment. Same dayregistration will be at the Ritz Carlton 1:30 p.m.-3:10 p.m. Thereare 4 options for pre-registering: website regis- tration at www.floersseaswim.com (closing on Wednesday, June 12th), at CL Flowersoffice in Industrial Park, at the Holiday Inn on Friday, June14th, 4:30-7:00 p.m., and at the Lions Pool during the FosterBrothers Invitational swim meet on Friday, June 14th, 2:00-4:00p.m.
All swimmers who pre-register are stillrequired to come to the Ritz registration site, on race day nolater than 2:30 to get their race number and arms marked.