Better late than Never!

2nd time’s a charm!

My first attempt (in June) at the Manhattan Marathon swim was unsuccessful, but my second attempt at the Manhattan Island Marathon swim (my “quiet” swim) went perfectly

Those of us who were pulled from the original race were offered a second chance by the NYC swim organisers. At 9am on Friday July 24th, Cara McAteer, Steve Autry and I set of from Manhattan’s Pier A to swim the entire 28.5 miles around the island of Manhattan. anticlockwise.

8 hours, 36 minutes later all three of us arrived back at the same place, within a minute of each other!

Here’s the view from the start:

Conditions were great and the current was rip-roaring up the East River. The water temperature was about 70-75 during the swim and mostly very smooth. Sweet.

I think this is somewhere on the East River:

The last few miles down the Hudson were a little rough, but that’s a lot easier to take when the end is so close!!

This is the George Washington Bridge, just after we were spat out of the Harlem River and into the Hudson:

Here’s me at the finish. Not sure why I’m not smiling because I was really really really happy!!! maybe I was contemplating the swim back to my boat….

My crew and official observer, Maria and Dahlia at North Cove.

Throughout the swim, Maria prepared a perpetuem/water mix in sippy bottles attached to strings. My kayakers, Jack and Kevin passed me the bottles at regular intervals. That took care of the nutrition! I also asked (and received) Maria’s supply of Coca cola during the race. Sweet stuff tasted good!

My boat Captains who apparently took a great deal of care of me!! They were very excited when I finished 🙂

Thanks to everyone at NYC Swim, my boat Captains, crews and kayakers from both attempts!!! I’ll definitely be back next year if I get a place