OCEAN CITY Buoyed by the
success of the inaugural Swim
Ocean City event last summer,
plans were announced this week for
an expanded format this July, in-
cluding a Stand-Up Paddleboard
race and other kid-friendly activities.
The inaugural Swim Ocean City
event last summer, which featured a
series of open ocean swimming rac-
es including a grueling nine-mile
race for experienced swimmers and
three- and one-mile races for nov-
ices, was highly successful on all
fronts, including the competition in
the water and the amount of funds
raised for the Johns Hopkins Out-
patient Neuro-Rehabilitation Pro-
gram (ONRP).
Conceived and organized by res-
ident Corey Davis, who, after suffer-
ing a major motorcycle accident a
few years ago, was the beneficiary
of ONRP at Hopkins, the inaugural
open ocean race last July included
around 200 swimmers competing in
the three races and grossed over
$22,000 for the program and other
beneficiaries.
The success of the inaugural
event last July has prompted Davis
and other race organizers to expand
the program for the second annual
event, set for July 19, including a
Stand-Up Paddleboard (SUP) race
for both experienced and novice
paddlers. In addition, the second
annual event this summer will also
include several kid-friendly events.
Rebranded as the "Ocean Games,"
the event will once again be held for
the benefit of Hopkins' ONRP along
with some additional funds set aside
for other interests.
"It was such a successful event
last year that we decided to expand
on it this year and include other
events and festivities," said Davis.
"The focus will continue to be on the
ONRP program, which helped me
recover from my motorcycle acci-
dent, but we're also thinking about
setting aside some of the proceeds
for the beach patrol, for example,
which played such an important part
of the first event. There could be
some benefit for other local chari-
ties. Last year, for example, a lot of
the food that was left over was do-
nated to the Diakonia shelter."
The ocean swim portion of the
event will remain largely unchanged
in year two, according to Davis. The
event attracted just under 200
swimmers last year competing in
the various distances. The courses
again will be laid out just off the
coast of the resort and the direction
will be determined by the prevailing
current on race day.
The major addition this year is
the stand-up paddleboard race, al-
ready deemed the East Coast SUP
Cup. Ironically, the addition of the
SUP race to the event this year
comes at a time when the Ocean
City Mayor and Council is debating
the merits of allowing SUPs in the
ocean under the same rules as surf-
ing.The brainchild of the local Walk
on Water SUP company, the race
will be held near the Inlet and will in-
clude an elite course and an ama-
teur course.
According to Davis, the SUP Cup
will include a triangular course laid
out near the Inlet. Experienced SUP
racers will do two laps around the
course, getting out of the ocean af-
ter the first lap, running down the
beach with their boards and getting
back in the water for a second lap.
The amateur race will include just a
single lap around the course.
In addition, the Ocean Games
event will include kid- and family-
friendly events, face painting, food
and live music and other activities
aimed at creating a festival atmos-
phere along the beach on the day of
the event.
Davis said this week the changes
are part of a larger effort to grow the
event.
"This is organized to be a great
event for all involved, all for the ben-
efit of this worthy organization and
other deserving organizations. We
want to grow it to be successful, but
not too much all at once. It's proba-
bly going to evolve into a larger e-
vent," he said.
Ocean Games Planned For Summer
Page 12
January 24, 2014
The Dispatch/Maryland Coast Dispatch
By SHAWN J. SOPER
NEWS EDITOR
Revamped Concept Brings New Events