Anyone had to swim in their hydration pack on offroad event?

[chloe]

for an event this weekend a 33k coastal run, theres part of the course where ill have to swim short stretches in the ocean, but its going to be a long hot run aside from the water bits and i want to wear a hydration pack,..anyone had experience swimming in their hydration pack? I assume they are generally designed to get soaking wet...?

[fredrikw]

how will you be able to fit in the hydration pack?

seriously though, I've never heard of any pack that wouldn't be able to withstand water. I've used various models of camelbaks in heavy rain, and the only downside is that they can be a bit heavy when soaking wet if there are padded parts of the pack, I guess that might interfere with swimming as well (but perhaps not more than your clothes).

if you don't mind looking like a hunchback Camelbak used to have a base layer shirt with a built in holder for a hydration bladder. that will probably minimize the effect of soaking it.

[skoptic]

Yup, I agree, any of them should be fine, but they will get heavy. I cycle to a lake in the summer and carry my wetsuit in my camelbak. It's fine on the way there .. heavy on the way home... all good training though!

That shirt things sounds a bit weird .. never seen that, but sound like a good idea. Just wash your pack good afterwards so the salt water doesn't do any damage

[fredrikw]

Racebak is the name of the model
http://www.google.com/search?q=camelbak ... isch&tbo=u
http://camelbak.com/Sports-Recreation/P ... -Mens.aspx
http://camelbak.com/Sports-Recreation/P ... omens.aspx

Have seen it on a couple of MTB marathons here, makes you look a bit odd bit apparently it works. Just have to make sure your other garments will fit on top of it.

[xrodolfox]

Depending on how long your swim is, the less I'd wear.
Drag in the form of loose fabric really slows down quality swimming. However, if its just a few rivers or short spans (less than 100m) you have to swim, then it'll be no problem. All water packs would float with a little air in them and perhaps make you faster, eh?

[chloe]

well i didnt take my pak in the end and had to rely on the limited water stops the event provided which in my mind werent nearly enough, the whole run was around the bays of auckland so i was in and out of the ocean the entire time-the two swims were huge though the first one 200 meters and the second about 500, which in running gear and shoes and in the waves surrounded by other people was actually a real challenge!! i did hugely well though came 4th out of the women and 44th out of 156 people overall doing the full 33ks.It took me 4hrs and 15 mins, which shows how tricky it was.
Would seriously reccommend this event to anyone in Auckland New Zealand in february,..it was HARD, challenging and brilliant fun.

[skoptic]

Wow - sounds like a great event! Crazy mix-up having to swim in your running gear- good work on the result

[Mr. Cleetus]

Hey, you're back in NZ! Well done!

that sounds like a fun event, I hadn't even heard about it.