Thanks for reading ActiveRenoTahoe! Last week, we profiled the inaugural Journal Jog that took place in Reno in 1969. Our overview of the entire Journal Jog history will be pushed back to next week’s newsletter. This week we wanted to share a recap on one of the most in-demand events in our area, the Donner Lake Swim.
🏊 ⛰ Donner Lake Swim
The 44th Donner Lake Swim took place on Saturday, August 9. The annual event is hosted by the Sierra Nevada Masters. The swim is one of the area’s most popular events. Registration opened for this year’s race in early June and it quickly reached it’s cap of 475 swimmers. Race organizers increased the field limit from 450 to 475 this year but it still sold out in 9-minutes.
The Donner Lake Swim is a point-to-point 2.7-mile swim. Participants start at the East End and swim directly across the lake to the finish line at the West End Beach. There are two categories: non-wetsuit and wetsuit. The majority of the swimmers choose to brave the cool water and go without a wetsuit.
The start of the 2025 Donner Lake Swim
This year the top-3 men all represented Sierra Nevada Masters and are current college swimmers:
🥇 Zachary Power (SMU) - 53:14
🥈 Evan Schott (South Dakoka State) - 54:14
🥉 Aidan Pflieger (Nova Southeastern) - 56:44
On the women’s side, the top-3 represented teams from California:
🥇 Allie Davis (Santa Rosa Masters) - 58:32 (5th overall)
🥈 Katherine Raatz (Stanford Masters Swimming) - 1:00:03
🥉 Jessica Huang (University of San Fransisco Masters) - 1:02:18
Additional facts about the Donner Lake Swim:
The event draws swimmers from all over the west coast and has a reputation for being one of the most beautiful open water races in the country.
In 2016, the event served as the US Masters Open Water National Championship.
Olympic swimmer and Reno native, Luke Hobson, won the event in 2023 with a time of 52:52. Despite an impressive result, he did not break the race record of 50:29 set in 1988 by Keith Frostad. The women’s record was set in 1986 by Elizabeth Cunna (55:14).
Breaking the hour mark is a goal for many of the front pack swimmers. In this year’s race, 10 swimmers finished under 60-minutes.
A pack of swimmers approaching the finish line during the Donner Lake Swim
Here are the full results from this year’s race. The date for next year’s Donner Lake Swim have yet to be set, but if you want to do the race be sure you are ready to register right when registration opens in June.
⏱ Upcoming Races in Reno / Lake Tahoe
August Races
Please let us know if we are missing an event.
🏃♂ 🏃♀🏃 Weekly Group Runs in Reno / Lake Tahoe
There are a variety of group runs offered each week in RenoTahoe. Here are this week’s group runs. Please be sure to double check each group’s website/social media for locations, time, and/or last minute changes.
Thursday, August 14
⛰ Group trail run with Silver State Striders
Friday, August 15
🌄 Morning trail run with the Trail Creatures
Saturday, August 16
🏔 Mountain Running Club with Alpenglow Sports
👟 Group run at Sparks store at 8 AM with Reno Running Company
🏃 Group run with at different locations with Summit Run Club
⛰ Group trail run at different locations with Silver State Striders
🍻 Group run with Mikkeller Running Club
Sunday, August 17
👟 Group run at Summit store at 8 AM with Reno Running Company
Monday, August 18
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Tuesday, August 19
⛰ Group trail run at different locations with Silver State Striders
🏃 Group run at the Sparks Marina with Summit Run Club
Wednesday, August 20
🏟 Morning track workout at Reno High (meet at Hub Riverside at 6 AM) with Reno Running Company
🏔 Mountain Running Club with Alpenglow Sports
🍻 Group run with Mikkeller Running Club
Are we missing a group run? Let us know!
Until next time, stay active RenoTahoe!
