2016 Chattanooga Rat Race top finishers
4.5 miles, males1. Joseph Hinely, 50, Huntsville, Ala., 01:19:062. Tyler Burbridge, Decatur, Ga., 01:25:503. Andrew Klenzak, Atlanta, 01:26:064.5 miles, females1. Ashley Whitney, Nashville, 01:23:002 .Victoria Rian, Indianapolis, 01:25:503. Jamie Ann Phillips, Chattanooga, 01:27:502.4 miles, males1. Miller Williams, Chattanooga, 00:53:002. Matt Steinmann, Atlanta, 00:56:013. Brendan Cleary, Chattanooga, 00:56:482.4 miles, females1. Erin Tobias, Indianapolis, 00:49:462. Renee Polowski, Chattanooga, 00:53:143. Hallie McFadden, Signal Mountain, 00:55:50
Opposite the boats docked on the south side of the Tennessee River for the Riverbend Festival, heads and hands bobbed in and out of the water for more than two hours Saturday morning.
Just hours after downtown quieted from the roar of the music festival’s first night, more than 160 swimmers entered the water either 2.4 or 4.5 miles upstream to compete in the 11th annual Chattanooga Rat Race, which ended under the Market Street Bridge in Coolidge Park.
The race, scheduled to be part of the city’s first-ever Open Water Swimming National Championships Festival next year, attracted swimmers from all over the Southeast and from as far away as Texas and New York.
“Being from Manhattan, it’s great to be in a city where you can get in the river and swim,” said New Yorker Christina Black, who finished 14th of 81 in the 2.4 mile category on her first trip to Chattanooga. “In the Hudson River there’s so much boat traffic that it’s not safe to swim. It’s absolutely amazing to be in a city where you can just jump in and swim.”