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Search For the Monongy In The GLOWS

Active masters swimmer Karen Longwell announced the Search for Monongy 1.2, 2.4 and White Knuckle Open Water Swim on the Allegheny River at the North Shore Riverfront Park in Pittsburg on July 11th.

The Search for Monongy event is part of the Great Lakes Open Water Swim Series (GLOWS), an U.S. Masters Swimming-sanctioned open water swim series.

The Great Lakes Open Water Swim Series stresses participation and will award swimmers with the most participation points. The top finishers will be announced at the 2010 United States Aquatic Sports Convention in Dallas, Texas in September.

The Great Lakes Open Water Swim Series includes the following races:

1. Search for Monongy
2. 10K U.S. Masters Swimming National Championship race in Noblesville, Indiana on July 17th
3. Big Shoulders Swim (2.5K or 5K) in Lake Michigan, Chicago, Illinois on September 10th
4. Lake Monona 2.4-mile Swim in Madison, Wisconsin on August 21st
5. Edgewater State Park 1-2 mile Swim in Cleveland, Ohio on July 24th
6. Cardinal Harbor 0.5-, 1.2- and 2.4-mile Swims in Louisville, Kentucky on August 14th
7. A swim to be announced in Michigan

Swimmers earn points for each Top 10 finish in each GLOWS race (1st receives 22 points, 2nd – 18, 3rd – 16, 4th – 14, 5th – 12, 6th – 10, 7th – 8, 8th – 6, 9th – 4 and 10th – 2) in addition to receiving 10 points for participating in a GLOWS race.

The Search for Monongy swim is the only GLOWS event with a White Knuckle Division. According to Kathleen, the White Knuckle Division is for swimmers who are looking to try an open water swim, but would like to use fins, wetsuits, snorkels, hand paddles, floaties or anything to help them complete the swim.

We asked, “What is a Monongy?”

Legend claims that the Monongy is a man-fish that lives in the river. Historical records describe encounters between British soldiers and strange aquatic creatures. The Indian tribes in the Pittsburgh area referred to this creature as Monongy. A Monongy craze continued from the 1930’s to the 1950’s where sightings occurred on a weekly basis and the local police department created a task force with the purpose to investigate sightings of this creature. No evidence was ever produced until 2003 when a fisherman took photos of the Monongy. Photos of the Monongy were briefly posted online, but were taken down as the howls of a government cover-up started.

Sounds like the swimmers who compete in Loch Ness in Scotland should enter this GLOWS race in the Allegheny River.

Copyright © 2010 by Steven Munatones

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