Grimaldo’s One Miler

Today I was on the other side of the race scene, in that I assisted with the running of the first annual Grimaldo’s Mile; a one-mile open water swim from Brighton Beach to Coney Island.

The race was put on by a group called Cibbows (www.cibbows.org) – Coney Island/Brighton Beach Open Water Swimmers. I am part of the group that helped the founding of the organization and participated in organizing the race.

My responsibilities for today’s race included the provisioning of electrical extension cords, chairs, tables, fluffing of the buoys and a whole lot of schlepping. I was also an assistant timekeeper, responsible for marking down any swimmers who did not complete the race.

I also managed to get Prudential Douglas Elliman and Asphalt Green to sponsor the race as well as my side enterprise www.runnyc.com.

The race went off without a hitch on a perfect day for an open water swim. 97 swimmers started the race and all but two completed it. Marty Markowitz, the Brooklyn Borough President was in attendance to hand out awards, as well as a Parks Commissioner.

Next year we plan to put on more than one race. These include a swim from Staten Island to Hoffman Island, a swim from Coney Island to Breezy Point and a swim across the Narrows.