Pointing to 8,000+ swimmers at the 2018-19 NZ Ocean Swim Series in New Zealand, the team at the Global Swim Series has highlighted its expansion. Starting in December 2018 and continuing through to early April 2019, the open water swim series in New Zealand has built scale through 7 key races.
Banana Boat New Zealand Ocean Swim Series
- Duke of Marlborough Hotel ‘Bay of Islands Classic’ – Dec 1
- The Gem – Omaha – Dec 15
- Interislander ‘Capital Classic’ – Jan 27
- Generation Homes “Sand to Surf” – Feb 9
- Interislander “The Big Tahuna” – Mar 2
- Generation Homes “Legend of the Lake” – Mar 16
- Swim the Bridge – Apr 6
The Global Swim Series now has over 110,000 swimmers, in 158 races, in 34 countries. These include: Austria, Barbados, Bermuda, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Brazil, Canada, Cayman Islands, Croatia, Cyprus, England, Fiji, France, Greece, Haiti, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Philippines, Romania, Russia, Samoa, Serbia, South Africa, Spain, St Kitts & Nevis, Sweden, Turks & Caicos, UAE and USA. The organising team add that ‘more are joining all the time!’
Founded in 2014, the Global Swim Series had its inaugural season as the Canadian Open Water Swim Series and had 12 races spread across Canada from Halifax to Vancouver. The first season had over 2,000 participants. It included former Olympians, nationally ranked club swimmers, NCAA and CIS athletes, marathon swimmers, long distance triathletes. The organisers add that the series also welcomed the majority of participants without any auspicious credentials and encouraged those new to the sport of open water swimming to join the fun.
After an impressive first year in Canada, the decision was made to go global and thus the Global Swim Series was born.
