The annual Interior Savings Across The Lake Swim Kelowna is the largest and longest continuously running open water swim event in Canada. Swimmers complete a 2.1 km swim from the Old Ferry Docks at the bottom of Old Ferry Wharf Rd. in West Kelowna to Hot Sands Beach in City Park, Kelowna. New this year is a 1.5km swim across Okanagan Lake.

Age group swimmers will self-start whenever ready and your time starts when you cross the timing mat and enter the water. Competitive group swimmers have a mass start.

All swimmers will receive their finish time thanks to the timing chip worn around your ankle as you swim. When you cross the finish line, this timing chip will register each swimmer’s personal swim time. All swimmers will be eligible for medals in their age group, as well as door prizes.

Swimmers in the Competitive category have a mass start 7:45am. We treat the Competitive category as a separate race, so all Competitive participants will receive a medal for 1st, 2nd or 3rd in their age group, and are not eligible for age group awards.

There is no registration on the day of the event!

What you get for your registration fee:

• An opportunity to swim across the jewel of the Okanagan, and challenge yourself to conquer this bucket list item.
• A swim monitored by lifeguards and boats on the water, and the RCMP Lake Patrol.
• Our famous, stylish towel.
• Automated electronic timing and your results posted online.
• Medals for top 3 overall in each individual age category.
• Food and drinks at the finish line.
• Event insurance.
• Five FREE Fresh Air Open Water Swim Clinics starting in June.
• Free ride to the start line.
• Lots of door prizes.

We provide transportation by bus (included in your registration fee) to the start line from the City Park. Due to construction on the Westside, there is very limited access to the start area for private cars and NO PARKING at the start.

Friday Night Boat Drop Off

Support paddlers for participants can drop off their craft at City Park from 5-7pm Friday, July 19th. The boats are in a secure area and watched by security over night. In the morning, come to the Finish Line in City Park to pick up the craft – this saves having to do it in the morning.

History

The Interior Savings Across The Lake Swim Kelowna began in 1949 and is the longest running and largest annual open water event in Canada. It is also the last event left from the early Kelowna Regatta. The Kelowna Masters Swim Club took over the administration of the Swim Across The Lake from the City of Kelowna in 1986. Back then, the swim started at 6pm on a Friday and ended in City Park which was fenced off as part of the 3 day Regatta.  After the Kelowna Regatta ended in 1988 the swim was moved to Saturday morning. An accompanying canoe was mandatory and the swim became part of the (now folded) BC Open Water Swim Race Series.

The Kelowna Masters Swim Club had organized the Interior Savings Across the Lake Swim as part of its club activities. However, the surging growth and interest in open water swimming and the Interior Savings Across The Lake Swim mandated more dedicated attention than to just be part of any one swim club. Therefore the organizers created a non-profit society to promote the event and important skills involved in open water swimming. Five veterans of previous ATLS organizing committees became the founding members of the new Across The Lake Swim Society (ATLSS), which was registered in November 2009.

The ATLSS had its first annual general meeting in September 2010.

The Across the Lake Swim has been gaining popularity every year and sells out earlier year after year. What once was a swim of just 400 participants just a few short years ago, has now grown to include over 1200 swimmers. And, the swim was recently recognized as one of the top swims in the world by openwaterpedia.com

Here is an article in IMPACT Magazine written by our own Mark Fromberg about the history of the swim: Read the article here.

Mark recently discovered an article written in the August 10th edition of the 1901 Kelowna Courier which reviews a swim across Okanagan Lake, so the swim may be a lot older than we think!

Do you know any history about the swim?

Unfortunately, the details of the past history of the Across the Lake Swim are little known and we are looking for any tidbits of information that can help us piece together this incredible event. If you have any information such as pictures, news clips, or if you even swam or watched it years ago, please contact us as we would love to hear from you.

Event packages will be available at Fresh Air Kelowna, 1656 Dilworth Drive, Kelowna (get directions) the 2 days before the event. You can pick up your event package on:

Thursday, July 18th, 3-7PM
Friday, July 19th, 3-7PM

Your event package will include your souvenir towel and numbered cap. We recommend personally picking up your event bag, but you can also have a friend or relative pick it up on your behalf. They will need your Registration ID and will be required to sign a form confirming the bag pickup.

You will receive your timing chip and swim cap at event package pick up. This will save you time on event day (Yay! More sleep!), but it is your responsibility to remember to bring your timing chip and cap to the event. A replacement fee of $50 will be charged for lost or forgotten timing chips.

City Park has limited parking available. Get there early!

If the lot is full, there is plenty of free street parking, or park in the Chapman Parkade which is one block away on Lawrence Ave, also free.

There is no parking at either start line in West Kelowna.

We will bus you to the Start Line.

2023 Results

2023 2.1km Competitive
2023 2.1km

2022 Results

2022 Overall
2022 Teams

Previous Results