Rob Kent

From Openwaterpedia
Rob Kent, a member of the WOWSA Voting Academy
Rob Kent with 2012 World Open Water Swimming Woman of the Year Annaleise Carr and Madhu Nagaraja
Global Swim Series by Rob Kent and Dylan Kent is a nominee for the 2017 World Open Water Swimming Offering of the Year, part of the WOWSA Awards, an annual recognition of outstanding men, women, performances and offerings around the globe sponsored by the World Open Water Swimming Association
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The L.O.S.T. Race, founded by Rob Kent, in Lake Ontario, part of the Canadian Open Water Swim Series (COWSS)

Rob Kent is a Canadian endurance athlete, including marathon and ultra marathon running and Ironman triathlons, but is most accomplished in open water swimming.

Open Water Swimming Career Highlights

History

Kent started LOST Swimming in 2006 while training for his English Channel attempt. After doing all of his open water training for the English Channel in Lake Ontario, Kent realized what many great swimmers from by-gone eras once knew, that Lake Ontario is a great place to swim. In an effort to try and bring back open water swimming to one of the most famous open bodies of water, he started LOST Swimming.

L.O.S.T. Swimming started with a handful of triathletes, a few open water swimmers, and Kent and his family, all competitive swimmers too. In the summer of 2007, after his English Channel attempt, it wasn’t called “LOST Swimming”, as one of the originals put it, it was called “let’s meet at the lighthouse and go for a swim”.

But gradually, word of mouth spread and the group grew. By the third summer, in 2008, the group was up to about 25 people and it was decided that there should be a race… and the ‘LOST Race’ was born. The first race included just 8 swimmers, but was enough fun that it was decided that it would become an annual race. The race started (and still does) from the foot of Maple Grove Drive for 3.8 km to the Lighthouse Pier in downtown Oakville. In order to include open water swimmers and triathletes, the distance was set equal to the swim portion of an Ironman triathlon. The course is a safe and very scenic swim as it goes parallel to the shore, past dozens of multi-million dollar homes in one of Canada’s most beautiful and affluent neighborhoods, South-east Oakville.

Word continued to spread and by 2012 LOST had become a registered Masters team, with over 200 paid members, over 500 people receiving the weekly mailing and the LOST Race now had grown to 94 swimmers. Saturday morning swims have now reached as many as 88 swimmers and has had visitors from all over Canada, the US, the UK, Ireland, Italy and Australia. The LOST season runs from late May to mid-September, in water that can range in temperature from 45F to 75F.

LOST has grown to include the LOST Travel Team, which has had LOST swimmers swim in the Tampa Bay Marathon Swim, the FKCC Swim-Around-Key-West, the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim, the Governor's Island Swim, the 25 km U.S. Masters Swimming National Championship, and the Ederle Swim.

Kent will also attempt to become the third LOST Swimmer to complete a Lake Ontario Crossing. Melanie Price was the first in 2011 and Madhu Nagaraja completed the Crossing just 2 weeks before Kent. Price also established the LOST Route, which goes from Port Dalhousie to Oakville, and is exactly the same distance as a running marathon, 42.2 km or 26.2 miles. Kent completed the LOST Marathon Swim on 14 August 2012 in 20 hours 52 minutes.

For more information or to sign up for the weekly email updates see LOSTswimming.com.

Honours

L.O.S.T. Swimming is nominated for the 2014 WOWSA Awards' World Open Water Swimming Offering of the Year.

2017 World Open Water Swimming Offering of the Year Nominees

Global Swim Series was nominated for the 2017 World Open Water Swimming Offering of the Year by the World Open Water Swimming Association:

1. 48 Braçades by Miquel Suñer (Spain)
2. Blue Journey Dangerous Waves Project by Bruckner Chase (USA)
3. Global Swim Series by Rob Kent & Dylan Kent (Canada)
4. LongSwimsDB by Evan Morrison (USA)
5. New York Open Water by David Barra, Rondi Davies & Alex Arévalo (USA)
6. Open Water Swim Academy by Dan Simonelli (USA)
7. Outdoor Swimmer by Simon Griffiths (Great Britain)
8. Sea Donkey with Adrian Sarchet (Guernsey)
9. Shark Bait by Dr. Seán O’Connell (Bermuda)
10. Swim Argentina by Matías Ola (Argentina)
11. The Channel of Bones with Toni Enderli (South Africa)
12. Travessia do Leme ao Pontal by Adherbal de Oliveira & Renato Ribeiro Barbosa (Brazil)

2017 World Open Water Swimming Offering of the Year Nomination

Father Rob Kent and son Dylan Kent envisioned a global connection between open water events around the world. Their platform became the world’s largest open water swimming network called the Global Swim Series. Through social media marketing and word-of-mouth, over 75,000 swimmers in 115 races across 30 countries have now participated in the rapidly growing phenomenon. When a campaign like the Global Swim Series can so easily and quickly connect swimmers across six continents, the sport and the creative vision of Canadian father and son have arrived. For the professional marketing platform that enables viral expansion around the globe, for the production of a competitive ranking system that equally awards speed and participation, and for its inspirational, joyful message across borders, the Global Swim Series by Rob Kent and Dylan Kent is a worthy nominee for the 2017 World Open Water Swimming Offering of the Year.

2014 World Open Water Swimming Offering of the Year Nomination

The nomination for L.O.S.T. Swimming (Lake Ontario Swim Team) by Rob Kent reads, "L.O.S.T. Swimming has established its much-appreciated niche and found its way in Lake Ontario] and throughout many far-flung venues around the world. The brainchild of endurance athlete Rob Kent, the Lake Ontario Swim Team has grown rapidly to accept athletes from all backgrounds and persuasions, ranging from bioprene to neoprene, as well as instigating and inspiring the new and popular Canadian Open Water Swim Series. From organizing and encouraging long, tough solo marathon swims across Lake Ontario between America and Canada to offering frequent training sessions for triathletes and newcomers, Kent and his like-minded enthusiastic colleagues at L.O.S.T. make open water swimming fun and enjoyable, inviting and attainable, cool and respectable. For his sense of inclusion, for his relentless encouragement of all things open water, for his motivational newsletter and educational website, L.O.S.T. Swimming is a worthy nominee for the 2014 World Open Water Swimming Offering of the Year."

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2014 World Open Water Swimming Offering of the Year Nominees

Videos

External Link

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