Okay, I’ve been a little… okay, very delinquent in keeping up with the blog and all that has been going on! Don’t you just hate it when the real world gets in the way with fun! Actually in this case it wasn’t the real world… it was vacation!
Anyway, prior to vacation last week with the family in the Bahamas… and even prior to the LOST Race the week before… Darren and I took a trip down to Welland and swam in the 5k and 3k races there! Very well organized and a great venue for open water swimming. We had a beautiful sunny day… and a strong head wind almost all the way… and it was a point to point swim! (I’m just trying to set up a few excuses, so that when you see my time I’ll have something to fall back on!).
The highlight however, for Darren and myself was meeting Kim Lumsdon and Colleen Shields! They are both truly marathon swimming legends!
Kim has swum Lake Ontario… twice! In 1976 and in 2006… at ages 19 and 49! It’s never too late! She’s just coming back off of injury and it was great to see her back in the game. And in case you thought the name sounded familiar, her father, Cliff Lumsdon won the world championships in marathon swimming as well as the Lou Marsh Trophy too! True marathon swimming pedigree!
Colleen is no slouch herself… get this… she and Kim are 2 of the 6 people who have ever swum Lake O more than once!… and only 45 people have ever completed it at all! Colleen swam it in 1990 and 2006 at the ages of 38 and 54! At 54 she took the title for the oldest person to ever swim it from… you guessed it… Kim Lumsdon, who swam it just 2 weeks earlier! Oh, and I almost forgot… between seeing Colleen at the LOST Race and now… she went for her 3rd Lake O crossing! At age 58! I wanted to crew for her, but unfortunately (kind of!?) I was in the Bahamas, but I just checked and unfortunately she didn’t make it… she swam for 18 hours and 15 minutes before having to pack it in, due to very strong winds… with only 5k to go! For those of you who made it out to the LOST Race and thought it was rough for the hour or so we were out there… this should put things in perspective. Despite the fact that she didn’t make it, it does show you what can be done! Having tried and failed at crossing the English Channel myself… I know how it feels… not great… but still an amazing accomplishment and incredible courage to try something most people wouldn’t dare attempt. Well done Colleen.
To make things even more interesting… after Darren and I were sufficiently in awe from meeting Kim and Colleen… the very next week we had Marilyn Korzekwa show up to swim the LOST Race… which means we met 1/2 of the people that have swum Lake O twice… all in one week! Pretty cool. And without dragging this on… we also had Miguel Vadillo show up for the LOST Race too… but he didn’t swim… but we’ll let him off the hook… he’d just swum Lake O on the Tuesday before the race! 18 hours and 4 minutes.
This isn’t just interesting trivia, these people really are some of the best marathon swimmers in world… Dover, San Francisco, Catalina Island, Australia… they have nothing on this crowd! Very cool.
Cheers,
Rob
