Meet GTD Swimmer Scott Linnborn

For the last 17 years Scott Linnborn has been in law enforcement, serving the City of Cedar Park, Texas for the past eight years. He is currently assigned to the Professional Standards Division, "a.k.a. the Rat Squad or Internal Affairs" as he names it.

He lives with his wife of 18 years, Michelle, and their daughter Amber in an older home with an awesome back yard, both of which demand a lot of tender love and care. They are enjoying making their new home “theirs.”

About two years ago Linnborn had a chance encounter with Mike Koleber from Nitro Masters in Cedar Park. Koleber had just started a new program to introduce Nitro to the local emergency services. The emergency service workers were offered a complimentary swim pass.

Linnborn, who hadn’t swum on a regular or even semi-regular basis since he played water polo in high school, thought it would be a great way to relieve stress and also to incorporate some different exercise into his daily routine. He has been hooked since then. He swims every morning with the Nitro Masters who have been instrumental in teaching him proper technique since he was still swimming as one would do while playing water polo. They encourage Linnborn and they offer the support to allow for a successful transition from pool to open water swims. "They have even got me swimming pool competitions," he says.

Their usual morning routine consists of approximately 3,500 yards in under an hour and fifteen minutes. Occasionally, Linnborn and several other Master swimmers will make the predawn trek to Barton Springs in Austin for a nice refreshing 68-degree swim in a spring fed pool.

"If I don’t swim every morning I feel as if my day is incomplete, it has become my morning cup of coffee. As an added bonus, I have been successful at losing over 50 pounds since I started swimming," he says.

Linnborn's favorite open water swim is the Alcatraz Challenge in San Francisco. He considers freestyle his favorite stroke but he enjoys the power of butterfly.

About Go the Distance, he says "I find it a great way to challenge myself to do better and I use it as a tool to measure my overall ability. My best advice for other GTD participants is not to put off your GTD swim until the deadline day. My goal for this year, as a second year participant, is to complete all five postal swims (I completed three last year)."

Linnborn is considered the comic relief of his Master swim group, he is the one who will say what everyone else is thinking, but doesn’t want to say.

"Swimming is my hobby! Just ask my wife and the chief of police," he says.

Linnborn's favorite swim story is when he lost his drafting pack while swimming the Alcatraz Challenge and trusted his own sighting which enabled him to finish with a much lower time and higher ranking than he had ever hoped for. His wife, who was waiting for him at the finish line, was shocked when she saw him running for the finish, she didn’t even have the camera ready (much to her regret).

"My lane mates would tell you “don’t let him count”, if I count we always end up taking a few extra laps. So counting laps isn’t my strong point," he says.

"A fun swim story is while swimming in Kauai by myself (I know, but my wife was sitting on the beach keeping track of me) I encountered a group of sea turtles who adopted me. They kept me amused for over an hour swimming around the reef. I later learned that there were young turtles just around the bend, so I can’t help but believe the older turtles were keeping me distracted so I would not disturb their young."