Lake Washington teeming with Fat Salmon

Editor's Note: There were too many great shots to fit here. Find more photos of the 20th Fat Salmon Swim here.

Competitors in the 20th Fat Salmon Swim reported warmer waters in Lake Washington during this year’s 3.2-mile trek from Day Street Park to Madison Park Beach on Saturday, July 13.

Fat Salmon Swim race director Jim Lasersohn said 352 people registered for the annual long-distance race, the ultimate prize being a whole salmon for the top finishers in the men, women, wetsuit and non-wetsuit divisions.

“It’s the highest that we’ve had in the last five years,” Lasersohn said, adding the no-shows probably put the real number around 325.

Paul Glezen has competed several times, and was in the same wave of swimmers as his friend Wayne Methner, who competed for the first time this year.

“It’s always good to know a friend who knows the course,” he said.

Glezen and Methner are both members of the North End Otters swim team in Shoreline. They spend a lot of time swimming indoors during the winter, but like going out in the summer, Methner said.

“I can swim three miles easier than I can run three miles,” Glezen said. “Last year, it was really choppy for the first mile.”

Triathletes Priya Sinha and Dan Fan used to be on the same team, and remain friends. This was their first Fat Salmon foray.

“Don’t be pulled out of the water; that’s my goal,” Fan said.

Sinha did a two-mile swim on the Fourth of July, and said she also hoped to finish. She didn’t learn to swim until she was over 35, she said, and started swimming seriously two years ago.

One new feature were ropes and new buoys that were deployed near the finish line, Lasersohn said, to clear up any confusion about how to reach the spot on Madison Park Beach where swimmers had their ankle monitors removed; they recorded how long it took to finish the course.

Matt Woare finished 14th overall in the no-wetsuit division.

“I did good,” he said. “The conditions were nicer this year than last year.

Glezen came in 22nd in the no-wetsuit division, and Methner came in 30th in the wetsuit division. Glezen said the course was smooth and the water was a good temperature.

“I think I kind of did the zipper pattern,” he said. “You know? Zig left, then zig right.”

Dena Marshall came from Portland with some friends in her master swim team. This was their first time, she said, and they had trained in Hagg Lake. Marshall said she’d been training for the English Channel, but couldn’t get acclimated to the cold. Lake Washington was a decent 71 degrees.

“I didn’t even really need the wetsuit,” she said. “There were some really fit swimmers out there today.”