The Swim Around Key West… just 2 more sleeps…

Hi all,

So 15 LOST Swimmers and 10 LOST “aquatic supporters” are off to Florida shortly to complete the 20 km “The FKCC Swim Around Key West”!

And those LOSTies are:

Solo

1. Rob Kent (dat’s me!)
2. Bud Seawright (Etobicoke Masters and won the 10k Masters last year, but his first marathon swim!)
3. Marilyn Korzekwa (2 Lake O Crossings and the English Channel last year!)
4. Lynn Rodgers (a strong Burlington Masters swimmer and her first big ow swim!)
5. Art Chasovskykh (he and his brother Nick are both LOSTies, doing their first Ironman and doing their first big marathon swim too!)
6. Alex (a buddy of Art’s and doing his first marathon swim too!)

2 swimmer relay

1. Alex McMillin (first big marathon swim too… 4 time Ironman and 16 consecutive Boston Marathons… oh, and a pretty decent swimmer too!)
2. Darren Osborne (like Alex, a great runner and triathlete… but loves swimming and is doing his first marathon swim!)

3 swimmer relay

1. Gerry O’donnell (LOSTie from Ireland & Oakville)
2. Alex Sarchuk (LOSTie from Ireland & Oakville)
3. Karl (LOSTie from Ireland & Oakville)

4 swimmer relay

1. Ted Gregory (LOSTie from Pennsylvannia, did Tampa Bay Marathon Swim as a relay this year too… oh and the English Channel relay two years ago!… oh and he’s 73!)
2. Patty (LOSTie from Texas, did Tampa this year too)
3. Annelies (Lynn’s “cousins” from Belgium)
4. Stijn (Lynn’s “cousins” from Belgium)

Oh… and while we are on the topic of who is doing the SAKW… there is going to be a true open water swimming celebrity there too! 

In 2006, when I attempted the English Channel, I got to meet a bunch of swimmers from all over the world and have kept in touch with a lot of them… marathon swimming is a pretty small and friendly world… and one of those people was the Australian swimmer who was pretty good… she had done the 20k Rottnest Island swim in Perth, Australia six times and placed at the very top nearly every time.  Impressive.  A bunch of us spent a fair bit of time together in coffee shops and pubs waiting for decent whether in Dover… so I got to know her and several other fairly well.  She’s a great person.

And here we are 6 years later… and she has gone on to become one of the greatest marathon swimmers of all time… perhaps the greatest!  One has to be careful to say such a thing, as ranking something like this is very subjective… you have the likes of: Alison Streeter (Queen of the Channel, 43 EC crossings!), Kevin Murphy (too many swims to list, including 35 EC crossings), Vicki Keith (129 hour pool swim & 63 hour ows!)… and many others… but in my mind, Penny is likely the best ever.  Check out this listing from openwaterpedia.com (especially the 3rd last one)…

• Rottnest Channel in 2000 in 4:46 at the age of 37
• Rottnest Channel in 2001 in 4:36 at the age of 38
• Rottnest Channel in 2003 in 6:42 at the age of 40
• Rottnest Channel in 2004 in 5:12 at the age of 41
• Rottnest Channel in 2005 in 4:40 at the age of 42
• Rottnest Channel in 2006 in 5:52 at the age of 43
• English Channel (England-France) in 2006 in 9:16 at the age of 44
• Cook Strait (South Island-North Island) in 2006 in 8:26 at the age of 43
• Strait of Gibraltar (Spain–Morocco) in 2006 in 4:32 at the age of 43
• Manhattan Island Marathon Swimin 2007 in 8:36 at the age of 44

  

• English Channel (England-France) in 2007 in 9:07 at the age of 45
• Freo to Rotto Big Splash in 2007 in 4:40 at the age of 44
• Rottnest Channel in 2008 in 5:24 at the age of 45
• Manhattan Island Marathon Swim in 2008 in 7:35 at the age of 45
• Santa Barbara Channel (San Miguel-Mainland) in 2008, 45K in 11:29 at the age of 46
• Tampa Bay Marathon Swim in 2008 in 7:51 at the age of 45
• Manhattan Island Marathon Swim in 2009 in 7:17 at the age of 46
• Maui Channel (Maui-Lanai) in 2009 in 4:31 at the age of 46
• Hawaii’s Alenuihaha Channel (Hawaii-Maui) in 2009, 75K in 14:51 at the age of 46
• Santa Barbara Channel (Santa Barbara-Mainland) in 2009, 64K in 17:53 at the age of 47
• Strait of Gibraltar (Spain–Morocco-Spain) in 2010 in 8:27 (3:03 + 5:24) at the age of 47
• Rottnest ChannelSwim in 2010 in 5:41 at the age of 47

  

• Catalina Channel (Catalina–Mainland) in 2010 in 10:36 and 13.5°C (56°F) at the age of 48
• Hawaii’s Kaieiewaho Channel (Oahu-Kauai) in March, 2010 (halted due to Portuguese man o war)
• Hawaii’s Kaieiewaho Channel (Oahu-Kauai) in November, 2010 (halted due to Portuguese man o war)
• Bridging The Cayman Islands in June 2011 in 40 hours 41 minutes
• Tsugaru Channel in Japan in September 2011
• Molokai Channel in Hawaii in November 2011 in 12 hours 7 minutes

Note the 3rd last one that she did last summer… a record for the longest swim ever!  107.6 km / 67.2 miles… in 40 hours & 41 minutes!!!  And this year she is going to attempt to break that record by swimming from Havana, Cuba to… Key West, Florida!!!  (Diana Nyad is also going to make her 3rd attempt this summer too!).

Anyway, Penny and her husband, Chris are both going to be in KW.  Penny is there to meet her boat pilot for her Cuba to Key West swim… and Chris is there to do the race!  Chris is just your run of the mill, really good marathon swimmer… you know… 34k Catalina Channel swim, 41k Molokai Channel swim, 15k Strait of Gibraltar and tons of others in Australia.  Just a regular guy.  😉 … who I’m sure will kick my butt!

The long and short of it is it will be very exciting to chat with Penny as she gets ready for the longest, non-stop swim in history… and to swim against (or draft off of) Chris!

This is going to be a fun trip!

PS.  Saturday’s LOST swim is still on, of course.  I’ve left Ben and Jason in charge of doing my usual meet & greet… and Elizabeth and Michael will be there doing the registration and check in/out.  By the way… I went for a last “loosen up” swim before SAKW last night and the water was 63F… nice. 

Have fun… be safe… and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!  😉

Cheers,

Rob