For the second year in a row, the Cascade Lakes Swim Series and Festival, an open water series swim of races held at Elk Lake, has been canceled due smoke caused by wildfires around the state.

With the unpredictability of how much smoke would impact Central Oregon over the week, the wellbeing of the nearly 200 athletes and 60 volunteers for the three-day event as well as the costs of last-minute cancellations, the organizers elected to forgo the race for just the fourth time in 30 years.

“It is tough because we have to because there are vendors involved, cancellation fees plus people traveling from out of state and we wanted to let them know as early as we could,” said Barb Hall, the membership chair on the Central Oregon Masters Aquatics board. “We are pretty heartbroken.”

Not only was this year supposed to be its 30th race, but it was the first time since 2019 that the series would be held over three days. The two races after COVID-19 canceled the 2020 series, the series had been a one-day event.

Friday evening was supposed to be the first day of the three-day races with a 3000-meter swim. Followed by the 500 and 1500 races Saturday morning before concluding with the 5000 and 1000 races on Sunday.

181 swimmers, coming to Central Oregon from Canada, Nebraska, South Dakota and Alaska, Hall said, registered prior to the cancellation earlier in the week.

“This would have been the largest event since before COVID,” Hall said.

With smoke forcing the event to be canceled in back-to-back years, the Central Oregon Master Aquatic may explore different times during the summer to hold the series. But simply moving the date isn’t all that simple.

First, smoke conditions are difficult to predict. The week leading up to the races, they were tracking forest fires and wind patterns trying to make a prediction of how the smoke would settle around the alpine lake near Mt. Bachelor. It wasn’t until July 29 that competitors were notified.

Second, late July-early August has been the sweet spot to hold the races in years where smoke is rarely an issue and the lake is at its warmest (typically around 66-70 degrees).

Have it early in the summer and the waters are much less safe to swim in due to the low temperatures. Hold the races later in the summer and the risk becomes dealing with more smoke as fire season tends to last until late August.

“This is why we have it when we have it is because the warmest the water is going to be. That is something as a board we have to look at,” Hall said.