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The Tampa Bay Open Water Challenge
[Times photo 1997]
The Tampa Bay Open Water Challenge became an annual event after its successful debut in 1997. |
By TERRY TOMALIN, Times Outdoors Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published May 5, 2000
There was a time when people didn't swim in the bay. Water pollution was at an all-time high and swimmers took a significant health risk venturing in the bay's nutrient-rich waters.
Those days are gone.
Water quality is better today than it has been in decades, and people not only swim in the bay, they swim across it.
The 4th annual Tampa Bay Open Water Challenge, a 3.1-mile race scheduled for Saturday, will see hundreds of swimmers race from Gandy Beach in St. Petersburg to Picnic Island in Tampa. The event, designed to showcase the bay's improving water quality, will benefit Tampa BayWatch. Call (727) 896-5320 to enter.
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