The Skaha Lake Ultra Swim sold out its 100 spots in three weeks.
“We’re pretty excited that it filled up within that three-week period,” said Steve Brown, one of the organizers, who announced the return of the swim after 14 years early this month. “It’s sort of a little bit of a surprise. We set the goal of 100 to enter the swim thinking that would be sort of a good lofty goal. Now we just got to find out if that kind of demand is going to spill over into next year.”
READ MORE: Skaha Lake Ultra Swim returns
Brown and the organizers have started a wait list for people who missed getting into the first 100.
According to Brown events such as this get a drop out rate of 10 to 15 per cent over the course of time leading up. If that happens, they want to fill those gaps. Brown also said it is important to find out what kind of demand there is for 2018. Entrants placed on the waitlist now will be given advance notice of registration for 2018 to get them in the race.
“We don’t know if getting 100 people in the event is just an anomoly,” Brown emphasized. “The race has never had more than 69 people. We don’t know if it is because it has been 14 years since it has been run. We’re hoping that there is a demand for the event.”
By capping it they will be able to sustain that. What Brown doesn’t want happen is have 150 compete this year then have only 30 in 2018. Limiting the entrants to 100 also gives them an opportunity to work out any bugs or kinks in the event.
“Lets make sure we can handle the 100 safely and comfortably,” said Brown, adding if demand shows it needs to be bigger they will consider it in the future.