The world’s largest swimming competition on the open water, Oceanman, will make a splash next month at Alma Resort overlooking Long Beach on Vietnam’s Cam Ranh peninsula.
The gruelling 10km ‘Oceanman’ swim, 5km ‘Half Oceanman’ swim, 2km ‘Sprint’ swim, 3.5 km ‘Ocean Teams’ relay and 500m ‘Ocean Kids’ swim will start and finish on Alma’s beachfront during the event from September 6-8.
Stretching 13 kilometres, Long Beach, or Bai Dai in Vietnamese, is renowned as one of Asia’s most stunning beaches due to its aquamarine waters with islands strewn just offshore.
Oceanman’s official hotel partner Alma will host an anticipated 900 participants from almost 30 countries, as well as spectators and event organisers.
Open to male and female participants from seven to more than 70 years of age, Oceanman began in 2015. The competition has been held at 19 scenic locations worldwide including Bali, Thailand, Turkey, Spain, Italy, Ukraine, Mexico and Columbia. Next month’s swim series will mark Oceanman’s second year in Vietnam after it was also held in Cam Ranh in 2023.
Two of Alma’s lifeguards will compete in the ‘Half Oceanman’ event. Lifeguard Van Hien and lifeguard supervisor Le Van Thao have worked at Alma since 2019 and 2022 respectively.
Alma’s managing director Herbert Laubichler-Pichler said the 30-hectare resort’s partnership with Oceanman afforded “an unparalleled setting that is bold, spacious and emblematic of Vietnam’s maturation as a destination”.
“We are so excited to welcome such a prestigious event to our remarkable oceanfront location and array of world-class facilities ranging from 12 swimming pools that cascade down to the beach to a water park replete with a lazy river, slides and wave pool,” said Laubichler-Pichler. “Oceanman’s ecological awareness is a good fit with Alma’s efforts to protect the environment, including the implementation of Vietnam’s most ambitious solar power project, and of course we will be cheering on the participants, particularly our lifeguards Hien and Thao, with gusto.”
Alma has been called out as the top resort in Southeast Asia, the No. 2 resort in Asia and No. 9 resort worldwide in this year’s Travel + Leisure’s World’s Best Awards. The US-based publication announced the winners of its World’s Best Awards last month, with Alma scoring 99.2 on the awards’ 100-point survey.
