Race review: Daiquiri Deck Tropical Splash Open Water 5K Swim

It’s rare that a race that sounds too good to be true lives up to its expectations.The Daiquiri Deck Tropical Splash Open Water 5K Swim in Siesta Key, Fla., on Oct. 2 was one of those rare, wonderful races.

I swam the 5K (there are also 1K and 2.5K options), and finished in 1:31:58.6, or 29:40-minute mile pace—a good time for me, and good enough to win my age group. Here’s why I loved the swim, and why I’ll be back for it next year:

Can you imagine a prettier place for an open-water swim?

Natural beauty. Dr. Beach, a Florida professor who releases an annual ranking of the country’s beaches, ranks Siesta Key as the No. 2 beach in the country, touting its fine white sand, wide, pretty beach and clear, clean water. If there’s a better way to nix pre-race nerves than wiggling your toes in powdered-sugar sand, I don’t know it. Plus, it’s lots easier to drag your support crew out of bed at 4:30 a.m. when you know they get to hang out on that beach while they watch you.

Me and my loyal, generous “support crew,” otherwise known as Steve and my parents.

A great post-race spread. The race doesn’t actually finish at the title sponsor, the Daiquiri Deck. But offerings at the finish festival at a lovely, shaded beachside pavilion made up for it. Options include rice and bean burritos from Clayton’s Grill and wraps from The Broken Egg, both local eateries. A volunteer also brought homemade bread, which she told us had “all sorts of good whole grains” as she sliced it and dished it up. I can confirm it was all sorts of good, and love that this is the kind of hometown race where people bring homemade bread.

The super-cool post-race party.

Great organization. The event, which is sanctioned by U.S. Masters Swimming and put on by the Sarasota YMCA Sharks Masters, was amazingly well-organized, from the quick, easy registration and check-in to the many volunteer kayakers on the course.

The race was well-organized and fun from the start …

… to the finish.

My only complaints:

Sea lice. I spent the first quarter of the swim thinking that I’d been stung by a jellyfish (these were present on race day, too), and that the sting had sent me into anaphylactic shock, as the horrible itchy-ouchie sensation had spread to my whole body. Other swimmers informed me I was among many participants to have a bathing suit full of sea lice. I don’t know what these are, or how to prevent them, but I can confirm they’re not cool. Nothing race organizers could have done about this, and not a reason to not do the race—just something worth mentioning.

A looong awards ceremony, which organizers promise will be shorter next year.

Me posing geekily with my age-group award.

Overall results can be found here, and age-group results here.

Have you done this swim? What did you think? Let me know by posting a comment below.