Portland Bridge Swim

Swim 11 Miles Through Downtown Portland

Main Content

12 Bridges

11 Miles

100 Swimmers

~ 70 Degrees

Welcome

With a heavy heart, we are canceling the 2020 Portland Bridge Swim.

Like everyone else we’ve spent the last month watching the news, washing our hands, worrying about our families and communities, and rarely sleeping through the night.  Three weeks ago we were pretty sure we’d cancel this year’s race, two weeks ago we knew we’d cancel but wanted to wait until mid-April to call it, then last week it was a matter of figuring out the mechanics of the cancellation.

This was a decision that made itself, but it’s still hard to think about all the people who make this happen, all the swimmers, and all the excitement we had for this summer. We are canceling because even if travel restrictions are lifted by July, swimmers need enough time to train.  We also fear that at least some of them are going to need as much of their entry fees back as they can get.

We are refunding all the money we can.  Entrants will be receiving checks in the mail in the next couple of weeks, as fast as we can write them. We know how hard swimmers were working to prepare for this race and so we’ll be giving them first options to enter for 2021.

2020 was – is- our 10th anniversary year.  We are sad and disappointed that we won’t be able to celebrate and see all our swimmers arrive at Cathedral Park. We will miss them, and all the volunteers who take such good care of them.

Please stay home, wash your hands, give love to your community, and be well. We will be back.

No Portland Bridge Swim in 2021

At this time in a normal year, we’d be gearing up to open registration for the Portland Bridge Swim in January 1.  This is not a normal year.

We are excited about the vaccines and we’re finally feeling some hope after a long, hard year. We know that this pandemic won’t keep us apart forever. But 2021 just isn’t going to be our year.

There will be no Portland Bridge Swim in 2021. From where we are right now, we can’t tell how stable things will be in July. We can’t make the finances work for an event that may or may not happen, and we’d prefer to let you keep your money now rather than refund it later.  Most important to us, though, is safety.  We are not going to bring people together, through nonessential travel or race-day rescues, until it’s safe.  To you, to our volunteers, to our medical system, to our community. We only put on this race when we know we can do it safely, and we don’t know that this year.

I’ve missed you all. I miss getting to meet you and hearing your stories of what brought you to the river. I miss the electricity of sending you off under the Sellwood Bridge. I miss the love I feel watching you emerge from the water at Cathedral Park.  I miss our volunteers and the huge grins they have as they watch over you. I miss our community.

I hope you and your families are safe. I hope you’re finding ways to keep your balance.  I hope you’re able to get into water sometimes, even if it’s just to float and relax.  Especially if you can float and relax. We have our sights on our next race, on July 10, 2022. Until then, take care of your people and keep going.  Drop us a line if you feel like it, tell us how you’re doing. We miss you.

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The Course

Start: Sellwood Riverfront Park
Finish: Cathedral Park

The Portland Bridge Swim course is approximately 11 miles (17 km) with the current. Swimmers will enter the water at Sellwood Riverfront Park (SE 7th Ave & Miller St, Portland), swim South under the Sellwood Bridge, pass around the bridge pylons and swim North along the East side of the river. The course runs under all 12 of Portland’s Willamette River bridges, through downtown and beyond. Swimmers will pass under the St. John’s bridge and exit the water via the boat ramp in Cathedral Park (N Edison & Pittsburg Ave, Portland).

Safety

The nuts and bolts of our safety plan: To ensure that entrants are capable of completing the swim safely, a qualifying swim will be required upon entry. Swimmers must show that they have completed a 5000 m or 5500 yd swim within 1 hour, 40 minutes. The swim can be in a pool or still (ie. no current assist) open water. Time must be verified by an observer but it does not have to be an organized swim. The number of entrants will be capped at 100 so that organizers can safely track swimmers. The Portland Bridge Swim will be held in the Willamette River. The Swim will begin at Sellwood …

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Registration

The 2020 Portland Bridge Swim has been canceled. We are not accepting entries at this time.