New open swim course at Pineview installed Friday
Mark Miller, a triathlete and engineer, is shown perches on a Weber County Sheriff's boat Friday as he and two deputies installed six buoys to mark a new 750-meter open swim course at Pineview Reservoir.
Six of these cylindrical buoys were installed Friday in the no-wake area of Pineview Reservoir to mark a 750-meter open swim course.
OGDEN — Thanks to a collaborative and concerted effort, Pineview Reservoir now has a safe open swim course where triathletes can train without the fear of getting hit by watercraft.
The 750-meter course took shape Friday as Mark Miller, an engineer with Wasatch Civil Consulting Engineering, teamed with Weber County Sheriff Deputies Bowdie Malan and Weston Voth to install half a dozen six-foot fiberglass buoys in the no-wake zone south of Port Ramp.
Courtesy of Mark Miller
Six buoys mark Pineview Reservoir’s new open swim course in a no-wake zone south of Port Ramp. A collaborative effort plus a $10,000 donation from Biker’s Edge made it happen.
“It’s more of a personal passion than anything,” Miller said of his willingness to donate his time and expertise to the cause. “After Esther (Fujimoto) died, it drove me crazy that no one was doing anything. So many of us almost get hit out there.”
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Miller — part of the Weber Triathlon Group — said there’s no substitute to training in open water.
“It simulates races that we participate in, where we have to deal with the wind, waves, boat chop, currents, the sun in your eyes and the lack of visibility,” Miller said.
A $10,000 donation from Biker’s Edge in Kaysville paved the way for Miller to purchase the cylindrical buoys from Wisconsin-based Rolyan Buoys.
“They’ve been sitting in my barn all winter,” Miller said.
The nonprofit GOAL Foundation agreed to act as the pass-through organization for the buoy funding, and the U.S. Forest Service and Weber County Sheriff’s Office donated concrete anchors to complete the installation. The Utah State Parks Division and Weber Triathlon Group also had a hand in bringing the project to fruition.
“Hopefully, God willing, some lives are saved,” Miller said.
However, the swim course is only the first of three phases. Phases 2 and 3 consist of a changing dock and concrete pathway, both which also depend on community fundraising to make happen.
Miller credited former Ogden City Councilwoman Caitlin Gochnour for bringing everyone together.
“I just knew I had the power to convene the meetings,” Gochnour said. “Several entities collaborated — and what a great collaboration.”
A fan of the open swim, Gochnour said “there’s nothing more beautiful than to take a breath, and see that beauty around you.”
After Friday’s installation finished, Miller donned a wet suit — the water is still quite cold — and he and a friend were the first to give the course a try. Miller said he also makes it a habit to pull an orange flotation device behind him for visibility and in case of any problems. Reached by phone around 5 p.m. Friday, Miller said they’d just completed a brisk lap around the buoys, a swim that took 20 to 25 minutes.
In hindsight, Miller said “it was just perfect.”
Contact reporter Cathy McKitrick at 801-625-4214 or cmckitrick@standard.net. Follow her on Twitter at @catmck.
