Aaron Peirsol Helps Fund the Prize Purse for the 2009 Race For The Oceans

Seven-time Olympic gold medalist Aaron Peirsol announced today (8 July 2009) that he would award $3,000 of his own money to the winners of his Race for the Oceans open water swim. The winners of the men's and women's 1 kilometer swim will win $1,500 each. Excited by the message, Eric Shanteau, 2008 Olympian and cancer survivor, Brooke Bennett, three-time Gold Medalist, Brendan Hansen, four-time Olympic medalist, and Hayley Peirsol, World Championship Silver Medalist and professional triathlete have joined the cause and will all contribute to the event.

"This event and cause have been a real passion for me," Aaron said. "I want to attract the best in the world to this event to promote and educate people about the severity of the issues facing our oceans." "Having significant commitments from a leading groups like PureSport along, Lee County, and Oceana, I decided it was time to back my passion for saving the oceans by matching the commitment with funds of my own to continue to build the excitement and help expand the cause."

The Second Annual Aaron Peirsol's Race for the Oceans, an open-water swimming event, will be held at Fort Myers Beach in Fort Myers, Florida, October 10-11, 2009. Peirsol will host and participate in the event and Gold medal swimmer and NBC Olympic broadcaster, Rowdy Gaines, will serve as master of ceremonies for the event. Peirsol and Gaines will also team up to teach a swim clinic for all ages on Saturday morning, October 10.

"Protecting our world's oceans is very important to me because I grew up swimming in the Pacific Ocean and now that I have a chance to make a difference, it's important to me to help people understand that we can't take the beauty of our oceans for granted," said Peirsol. "This is a great chance for people to experience the joy of swimming in Florida's warm ocean waters and raise awareness for an important cause."

Aaron Peirsol's Race for the Oceans will feature a clinic, 500 yard Junior swim, a one kilometer swim, and a five kilometer swim and relays both masters and youth swimmers.