Registration for Sept. 4’s Sun Moon Lake International Swimming Carnival, the world’s largest open-water mass participation swimming event, opens on Friday, the Nantou County Government said yesterday.
Spots for this year’s event are capped at 20,000, the county government said.
The carnival was canceled last year due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Photo: Liu Pin-chuan, Taipei Times
Nantou Deputy Commissioner Chen Cheng-sheng (陳正昇) said that participants must follow certain rules this year, including having received three doses of a COVID-19 vaccine if aged 12 or older.
Children aged eight to 11 only need to have received two COVID-19 vaccine doses, Chen said, adding that the inoculations must be completed before July 15, which is the deadline for registration.
Participants are also required to present a negative COVID-19 rapid antigen test two days before the event, and must not have any symptoms of the disease such as a fever or cough before entering the water, he said.
Swimmers would need to wear a mask at all times except when in the water, he added.
This year’s event is to be open to healthy people aged eight to 75, including foreigners who live and work in Taiwan, he said.
The annual Sun Moon Lake International Swimming Carnival was first held in 1983, and is usually held at about the same time as the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Covering about 3km, the event was listed in the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2002.
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