Taipei, July 24 (CNA) An annual non-competitive swimming event in Taiwan's outlying Kinmen County on Sunday drew a record number of participating teams and swimmers this year.
According to the Kinmen Daily News, a total of 3,180 people from 89 teams joined the event in Liaoluo Bay, situated on the southern coast of the county's main island.
The Liaoluo Bay race, now in its 15th year, requires swimmers to swim 1,500 meters out to sea before swimming another 1,500 meters back to shore.
A 7-kilometer race between Kinmen and Xiamen, which is normally held in conjunction with the Liaoluo event, had to be suspended this year because of security concerns related to the upcoming BRICS Summit in Xiamen, the county's Tourism Department said in an earlier report.
The Liaoluo Bay race, along with the Kinmen-Xiamen race, were only made possible after the county saw military restrictions on seaside activities ease in recent years in the former battleground, which was at the front lines of Taiwan's defenses against attacks by the People's Republic of China in the 1950s.
