Chattanooga Swim Fest photos and results

Female winner, Sandra Frimerman-Bergquist of Excelsior, Minnesota, swims to the finish line at Baylor School.  The final day of the 2017 U.S. Masters Swimming Middle and Ultramarathon Distance Open Water National Championships was held on the Tennessee River on June 4, 2017.
Female winner, Sandra Frimerman-Bergquist of Excelsior, Minnesota, swims to the finish line at Baylor School. The final day of the 2017 U.S. Masters Swimming Middle and Ultramarathon Distance Open Water National Championships was held on the Tennessee River on June 4, 2017.

The Chattanooga Swim Fest was held this weekend in the Tennessee River.

The event featured a 1-mile non-championship swim Friday evening and the U.S. Masters Swimming 2017 Middle and Ultramarathon Distance Open Water National Championships Saturday and Sunday mornings, respectively.

Race organizers were afraid Sunday's race would have to be canceled due to serious weather, but the storms held off in the morning, allowing for the race.

Ricardo Valdivia from South Miami, Fla., and Sandra Frimerman-Bergquist of Bloomington, Minn., won the 9.2-mile ultramaraton national championship race Sunday. Valdivia finished in 2 hours, 5 minutes, 30 seconds, and Frimerman-Bergquist was the first female and second overall in 2:07:45. Kurt Dickson of Glendale, Ariz., was third in 2:08:19, six seconds ahead Adam Dawkins of Jasper, Ind. Stephen Rouch of Indianapolis completed the top five in 2:11:08, and Christopher Graefe of Jamaica Plain, Mass., was sixth in 2:12:17. Victoria Rian of Indianapolis was the second woman and eighth overall in 2:13:20.

Rick Schumacher of Hixson was the top local finisher in all three races. In the ultramarathon race, he finished 20th out of 98 finishers in 2:17:41. He finished the middle distance race 14th in 32:35. He placed 10th in the 1-mile swim, finishing in 13:21.

Saturday's 2.4-miler had 193 finishers, and Dawkins won in 30:57 with Valdivia sixth (32:16) and Jeremy Kane of Nashville (31:19), Michel Heijnen of Wilmington, N.C. (31:31), female winner Ashley Whitney of Nashville (31:38) and Dickson (31:45) in between.

Whitney won a gold medal in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta with the U.S. relay-team. She qualified for three Olympic swimming trials and was a member of the 2009 US National Open Water team. She also finished 6th overall in the 1-mile swim and was the second female finisher.

For a full list of results, click here.

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