Lake Magog organisers withdraw from FINA World Cup

Professional swimmers will not be racing at Canada’s Lake Magog this summer after event organisers withdrew their 10km and 34km races from the FINA World Cup Series race calendar.

The race, which was due to be held on 30 July, would have been the eighth stop on the circuit and the second of three swims held in Canada. Event organisers cited the high costs associated with hosting a FINA event as the reason behind the cancellation, stating “the increasing requirements of lodging, meals, transportation, coaching swimmers, scholarships, etc., leads us to make this decision.”
While professional swimmers will not be able to take part in the International Traversing of Lake Memphrémagog, the 2015 amateur competition will take place as usual.
Highlighting their new commitment to promoting amateur swimming, the organisers have even mooted a return of the historic 42km swim from Newport in America to Magog in Canada in 2016. “It is what many amateurs have been demanding in recent years,” said Cathy Bourgeois, president of the organising committee. Discussions to host the swim are “already underway” and committee member Serge Laurendeau said that their American counterparts were “very enthusiastic about the idea.”