Little Red Lighthouse Swim…

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… so NYC Swim has got it right.  They are a group that started open water swimming in NYC… their motto is “Take back the Rivers!”  And they have been exceptionally successful at it.  They now host a whole plethora of great events!  The crown jewel of the bunch is the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim, which I was lucky enough to do last year, but all of their races are great events!

Last year, when thoughts of doing a Lake O Crossing were still percolating in Melanie’s head, she went down and did the Governor’s Island Swim.  More recently, in fact last weekend, 3 LOST swimmers went down and did the 10k Little Red Lighthouse Swim… and next weekend Steve Faulkner will be doing the daunting Ederle Swim!  Which is a 28 km swim from Sandy Hook, New Jersey to Manhattan Island!

The original swim was done by the great Gerturde Ederle in 1925.  She was also the first woman to swim the English Channel… in 1926… when she completed the swim in 14:30… a record that stood until 1950.

Little Red Lighthouse Swim, 2011

Back to the present, or at least last weekend… LOSTies Jane, Lisa and Steve all completed the Little Red Lighthouse Swim… a very tough 10k this year!  Jane just sent me an email and said that it was a difficult swim this year… very choppy and only the fast swimmers got the full tidal assist… but it was enough fun that she’s going back next year too!

Although the times don’t really mean much because of the current and tide, Jane, Lisa and Steve did really well in the placings!  There was 344 people entered… only 240 started because the conditions were so rough!  Having said that, Jane finished 214th, time of 2:40… Steve was 187th, time of 2:30… and Lisa was an amazing 29th overall, in a time of 1:32!!!

 

I think our 3 LOSTies are too modest for a parade like the one they gave Gertrude Ederle after she swam the English Channel!

Congrats to all 3 LOSTies for completing a tough 10k swim!!!… and best of luck to Steve this weekend in the Ederle Swim!!!  (note: you can track Steve on the NYCswim.org site, as he’ll have a GPS tracker visible!… should be fun!)  GO STEVE GO!!!

PS.  I liked Jane’s note… she and Lisa hadn’t met Steve at LOST swimming before but wanted to find him down there in the crowd somehow… so he wore his yellow LOST shirt!!!  So he was LOST… and FOUND! 😉

Cheers,

Rob

 

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I founded LOST Swimming because I like open water swimming and would like to see it grow and thrive in Lake Ontario. I started as a competitive swimmer as a kid and ended up getting as far as a silver medal at Nationals and going to the Olympic Trials in 1988. But I retired after that, I was sick of swimming. So I got into running marathons and have run over 35 to date, as well as a few ultra marathons, including the Marathon des Sables (7 day, ultra across the Sahara Desert). I also kind of fell into triathlons and have done a handful of Ironman tri's too. This gradually got me back in the water and in 2006 I took the plunge and attempted swimming the English Channel. I didn't quite make it across, but the circle was now complete and after 17 years I was a swimmer again! Although I still do plenty of pool swimming, I now much prefer open water swimming and like to say that open water swimming is to pool swimming, what trail running is to treadmill running! As a result I hope to encourage more people to join me for a dip in Lake Ontario as often as we can!