NEWPORT — A couple hundred open water swimmers and kayakers will descend on Newport this weekend for the 17th Annual Kingdom Swim at Prouty Beach on Lake Memphremagog.
Organized and hosted by Kingdom Games along with volunteers, the event offers races of 1 mile, 5 km, 10 km, 10 miles and 25 km, drawing open water swimmers from across the United States and Canada. This year, participants from 20 states, Washington D.C., and Ontario will be represented.
The weekend kicks off with a Pet and Swimmers Costume Parade down Main Street at 6 p.m. Friday. The community is welcome to participate with their pets, with prizes of gift certificates to Tim & Doug’s for the best dressed humans and pets.
Following the parade, Dena Gray and the EastSide Restaurant will host a pasta dinner for swimmers and kayakers.
On Saturday, Newport and Derby Bays will be filled with open water swimmers, kayakers and volunteer patrol boats from 5:30 a.m., when the Border Busters head out from Prouty Beach, until 5 p.m. when the last participants return.
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Kingdom Swim has repeatedly appeared on lists of the top 100 open water swims in the world. Last year, members of the World Open Water Swimming Association selected Kingdom Swim as the Silver Medal Finalist for best event in the world in 2023.
The event serves as the flagship swim for over 30 swims hosted by Kingdom Games in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom and Quebec’s Eastern Townships. These include NEK Swim Week featuring eight lakes over nine days, Saturday Clubhouse Swims with distances of 2, 3.5, 6.5 and 12 miles, In Search of Memphre, a 25-mile international swim between Newport and Magog, Quebec, and the Memphremagog Winter Swimming Festival.
The Marathon Swimming Federation has called the collective events “one of the world’s most prolific and beloved series of open water swims.”
Over the years, thousands of open water swimmers have traveled to the Northeast Kingdom, drawn by the quality and beauty of the lakes, relative lack of boat traffic, community support, and the growing network of Kingdom Swimmers.
