25 km Border Buster, 10 Mile, 6.2 Mile (10 km), 3.1 Mile (5 km), 1 Mile
Saturday, July 26, 2025
(with Sunday, July 27th as a bad weather alternative)
A celebration of open water swimming
Lake Memphremagog
Prouty Beach, Newport, VT
ON LINE REGISTRATION for 2025 IS NOW OPEN HERE
VOLUNTEER AS YACKER, BOAT PILOT, CREW OR BEACH BUM
Join the Memphremagog Parade
FEES FOR ALL DISTANCES
25 km Border Buster – $500
10 Mile – $350
6.2 Mile – $300
3.1 Mile – $250
1 Mile – $150
1/4 Mile – $50
100 Yard – $25
Registration for all events closes at noon on July 1, 2025
Fees include 2 T Shirts (Swimmer and Yacker), Swim Cap, Dinner for Two on Friday Evening and lunch for two during the swim and Beach Fees).
SPECIAL GROUP RATES FOR THE 1 MILE AND 3.1 MILE SWIMS – 5 SWIMMERS FOR THE PRICE OF 4. Teams of 3 to 10 swimmers are especially welcome in the One Mile Team Challenge. We take the fastest three times of each team and determine the winning team. Bragging Rights Baby!!
All swimmers except for the 1 milers are required to be accompanied by a kayaker. We STRONGLY encourage swimmers to bring their own escort “yacker.” We are willing to provide volunteer yackers for those in need, while available, for the following fee: $375 for Border Busters, $250 for the 10 Milers, $200 for the 6 milers and $150 for the 3 milers. This is done on a first come, first served basis. If you need a kayaker, we encourage you to register early. After April 1st, 2023, we will not take requests for kayakers.
For those with their own kayaker but who need a kayak, we offer rental kayaks delivered to the beach on the morning of the swim with paddle, 2 pfds, and a whistle for $65.
All swimmers must be qualified. They should have completed at least 2/3rds the distance for which they register on or before July 1, 2019. Qualifying swims do not have to be formal events. They can be informal, with a kayaker and a gps. But they must be open water.
Mandatory Safety Meeting for all swimmers and kayakers doing the 3, 6, 10, and 25 km swims is on Friday evening at 6:45 pm, after the parade ande before dinner. If you AND your kayaker can’t make the mandatory safety meeting on Friday evening. DON’T REGISTER. No excuses. No exceptions.
All fees are non-refundable. However, we do allow registrants at Kingdom Swim who can’t make it for some reason to apply 75% of their entry fee toward another day of swimming in 2025 during our NEK Swim Week or our Saturday Clubhous Swim Series. Or, we are willing to apply 50% of the fee to an event the following year. However, swimmers must make that election at least four weeks prior to Kingdom Swim.
Pull Times. Assuming that we start on time, we will be clearing the lake at 4:00 pm for all 10 milers and 5 pm for all Border Busters That is the time we lose our EMT’s on the beach, our police support, and our motorboat volunteers. This translates to a 11.5 hour pull time for the Border Buster. And we reserve the right to pull 10 mile swimmers after 7 hours, 6.2 mile swimmers after 5 hours, and 3.1 mile swimmers after 3 hours.
Registration closes for all Kingdom Swim events on July 1, 2025 at noon.
SCHEDULE OF SWIMS
5:15 am – Border Buster Yackers deploy
5:30 am – Border Busters Start
7:45 am – 10 mile Yackers Take to the Water
8:00 am – 10 Mile Swimmers Start
8:15 am – 10 k Yackers Deploy
8:30 am – 10 k Swimmers Start
8:45 am – 5 k Yackers Deploy
9:00 am 5 k Swimmers Start
1:30 pm – Mandatory Safety Meeting for 1 Milers
2:00 pm – 1 Milers Start
2:05 pm – 1/4 Mile Youth Swim
2:10 PM – 100 Yard Youth Swim
4:00 pm Award Ceremony on the Beach
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Thursday, July 25th
8:00 am to whenever – Ceremonial Laying of The Buoys. Swimmers and Yackers are welcome to help
Friday, July 26th
noon – Sign in begins at The EastSide Restaurant, 47 Landing St. Newport, VT
11 am and 2 pm – Northern Star Boat Tours of the Lake
4 pm – Warm Up Welcome – Jaspers
6 pm Memphremagog Costume Parade
6:45 pm Mandatory Safety Meeting at the EastSide before dinner and Inductions into the Vermont Open Water Hall of Fame
7 pm – Swimmers and Yackers Pasta Dinner.
Saturday, July 27th
5:00 am to 5:30 pm – Kingdom Swim – Prouty Beach.
4:00 pm – Awards Ceremony at Prouty Beach
Sunday, July 28th
10:00 am – An unofficial, unsanctioned, cool down swim at South Beach, Lake Willoughby
1:00 pm – An unofficial, unsanctioned farewell lunch at Mike’s Tiki Bar, East Burke, VT, with 30 beer on tap and a burrito wagon.
SAFETY PLAN
First rule of safety is that ALL swimmers must be qualified for the distance they choose to swim. Second rule of safety is that all swimmers in the longer courses must not only have an escort kayaker but they must remain within 15 feet of their kayak at all times (except at the start of the swim). For more on our detailed safety plan, click here.
OHER INFORMATION
About Memphre our swimmer-friendly lake creature
History and Mystery of Lake Memphremagog