News Running 10km is tough enough for most people, but imagine swimming that same distance, in the sea This is the challenge faced by competitors in marathon swimming, which will be the subject of the eighth Rio 2016 test event, this weekend (22-23 August) in Copacabana While the event will be an invaluable opportunity for some of the world leading open water swimmers to compete on the course that will host next year’s Olympic competition, it is also a crucial event for the Games organisers A team of 150 people (60 full-time staff and 90 volunteers) from 33 departments in the organising committee will be deployed at the Fort Copacabana venue Three of the teams in particular – results, competition management and accessibility & sustainability – will be doing very similar work to what they will be doing next year during the Olympic Games “This test event is equally important for the athletes and the organising committee,” said Christiane Fanzeres, Rio 2016’s marathon swimming competition manager “For the swimmers, it is an opportunity to become familiarised with the route For the committee, it will be a test of various operations, including the security, communications and field of play areas… and all this in a event that takes completely in the sea, which makes our sport different “All the tested areas are important – no one is more important than another – because we won’t have another chance for testing, and all operations are fundamental for the event and even more so for the Olympic Games ”Fifty swimmers are scheduled to compete: 25 in the men’s race on Saturday and 25 in the women’s event on Sunday Both competitions will start at 9am and are expected to finish around 11am Among the male competitors are four who have already qualified for Rio 2016: Dutchman Ferry Weertman, who took the silver medal in the Olympic 10km distance at last month’s world championships in Kazan, Russia; Great Britain’s Jack Burnell, who finished fifth; Italy’s Simone Ruffini, who came in seventh; and Brazil’s Allan do Carmo, who was ninth There are also five women who have qualified for Rio 2016: France’s Aurélie Muller, who won gold in Kazan;  Italy’s Rachelle Bruni, currently no 1 in the world rankings; Brazilian duo Ana Marcela Cunha and Poliana Okimoto, who came third and sixth, respectively in Russia; and Germany’s Isabelle Harle, who finished seventh After the start at point T, competitors swim towards point 5, then points 3, 4, 5 and 1, from where they complete two laps (points 1-5), before racing to the finish at point P  The start will take place from a floating platform around 100m from the sands of Copacabana, in front of Posto 6 (Lifeguard Post 6) opposite the entrance to Avenida Rainha Elisabeth and close to where the iconic statue of Carlos Drummond de Andrade is located on the promenade As in pool races, the swimmers have to hit a touch pad at the finish line The route will be one of the major elements tested: it is expected that the International Swimming Federation (FINA) will give its approval for the same circuit to be used at the Olympic Games Marathon swimming will be the third test event this month to be staged in Copacabana, following on from triathlon and road cycling “Our operations evolve with each test event,” said ,” said Copacabana venues manager Bernardo Villano “Each competition poses different challenges and we have to adapt to these, but up to know everything has gone very well Our challenge this time is to run a competition that happens 100 per cent in the water ”August has also seen the rowing test event at Lagoa Stadium, equestrian in Deodoro and sailing at Marina da Glória The first test event was last year’s sailing regatta, with July’s volleyball competition at the Maracanãzinho starting the first of ‘three waves’ of test events that will take place up to May 2016 Next up is beach volleyball on Copacabana beach between 1 and 6 September Click here to see find out more about the test events and here to see the full calendar