Our hearts go out to Serpentine swimmers Deirdre Ward and Tory Thorpe, writes John Tierney, who along with 25 other swimmers were denied a complete circumnavigational swim of Manhattan Island.
The internet was full of varied reasons as to why so many swimmers recorded "Boat Assisted Swims" with just 11 of the 39 solo swimmers receiving an official finishing place and time. Three swimmers did not finish. Reasons gleaned from the internet included a start later than planned, comparatively poor New York weather, and the legacy of guidance and observer boats having been damaged by Hurricane Sandy leading to a shortage of supply before the race. The report below is written to give greater context to the conditions faced by all the swimmers including Deirdre and Tory who were successful in their goal as much as the organisers and conditions allowed.
An elite group of swimmers were set for a race in tough conditions with waters being much colder than normal at 16C. The pedigree of competitor included 25 year-old Marilee Kiernan, who had previously swam for the Yale University relay squad alongside Jennifer Thomson, a 12 time Olympic medallist. Ireland's Carol Cashell, a 35 year old Co. Cork woman who had placed fourth in the 2012 Lake Zurich race was also in good form. William Leonard, a 34 year-old who finished third in the Canadian Open Water Championships in 2012 was also hopeful. The teenage sensation Lochie Hinds from Sydney, Australia and Paul Newsome of Perth, Australia also had big ambitions.
The start of the 48km race up the East River was 30 minutes late with Deirdre and Tory setting off at 08.30 in their wave of swimmers. They will give their personal account at a later stage, so it is not appropriate for me to write about their experiences, especially as I watched the race unfold online and not in New York. The Marathon Swimmers Forum at www.marathonswimmers.org has hosted a number of interesting reasons as to why the start was delayed. The importance and difficulty of positioning escort boats and swimmers together is as easy as cat-herding, especially as many boats made their way from New Jersey and had to battle with bad weather en route.
The change in the tidal conditions near the halfway point resulted in Deirdre and Tory and most of the field being pulled out of the water and escorted by their boats at least 1km upstream to avoid the current. Luckily, Deirdre got back to her own boat where her team knew how to warm her up. Alas, Tory ended up in someone else's boat without her clothes and support crew in unseasonably cold conditions; a sure recipe for the shivering goosebumpy 'afterdrop'.
Early on, 17 year-old Lochie Hinds, who eventually finished second, led, followed by William Leonard, Lisa DeLaurentis, and Charlotte Samuels. As the swimmers got closer to the Harlem River, Gretchen Sanders, Hinds, and William Leonard were in the lead group. Less than two hours into the race Paul Newsome, the eventual winner, had moved into second behind Hinds. Heading into the Hudson river, the top five were Hinds, Newsome, Leonard, Paul Downie, and Jesus Neri and Caitlin Rosen. Newsome and his team described it as one of the coldest MIMS swims in history.
Settling into a rhythm of "stroke, stroke, breathe", Newsome had edged 300m ahead in the third hour. Swimming under the George Washington Bridge, Newsome and Hinds were swimming strongly with Charlotte Samuels and Cienwen Roberts keeping up the challenge.
Writing on the Marathon Swimmers Forum, Julie Galloway Farrell who was in Manhattan supporting Karen Throsby during the swim, estimated that the swimmers who were pulled from the water were placed anywhere from 2 to 3.25 miles up the river to recommence their swim. Commenting on the current strength, Galloway Farrell reckoned that "the late start negatively affected the very front end of the middle of the pack (of) swimmers. I do feel the extra 30 minutes would have given them a smaller section of strong current to navigate, and perhaps they would have been able to get through it. However, I still believe the middle of the middle pack, the lower of the middle pack, and the back of the pack would have not been able to make the currents yesterday, no matter if they started on time, or even an hour before."
Based on her local knowledge of being there, Galloway observed that "the first group of swimmers (10 at the back) was pulled at 10:55am (2hr25mins in), and some were barely at the bottom tip of Roosevelt Island - with a good current propelling them. Had they started at 8am, they still would have had to get to around 116th Street, where I noticed the currents were subsiding. The distance from the back group of swimmers to this area was at least 3 miles."
At the front of the race, the lead swimmers of Newsome, Hinds, Leonard and Roberts cruised through Hells Gate, a sure sign that the river at Harlem was already ebbing, and the East River would soon lose its flood. When Newsome reached Spuyten Duyvil, his team went ahead to survey the Hudson, confirming their suspicion that the ebb was in full bloom. Current speeds of 3mph were measured at the top of the island. Newsome's experienced crew wisely read the waters extremely well and noticing a back eddy along the Manhattan shoreline, they urged him out into the river; he used the full speed of the water to race past the George Washington Bridge with great propulsion.
Newsome's team reckoned that because of the tough conditions, "only the swiftest of the swift had much of a chance of making it." Many swimmers struggled to keep direction in the notoriously named Hell's Gate tidal strait. And this was before the swimmers met the strong headwinds of the Hudson River.
The three swimmers who recorded a "DNF" included Argentinian Gustavo Helguera, Gretchen Sanders and Grace van der Byl. Sanders is a regular competitor on the US Masters swimming circuit. In October 2012, Van der Byl set the record for the fastest swim between Catalina and California. During that Catalina swim, she fought a strong southern current and jellyfish. "One got stuck in my goggle strap. I was so concentrating on going fast, I let it sting me until I stopped for a break," Grace explained. The calibre of these swimmers who did not finish, gives more context to the success of all the other swimmers who recorded a "Boat Assisted Finish" and also those who were given official times and places.
Ceinwen Roberts from Perth, finished as first lady and fourth overall. Roberts was the first woman to complete a triple crossing between Perth and Rottnest island in March 2013 when she did so with fellow swimmer Rohan Hollick as part of a bid to raise awareness for modern slavery. Katy Dooley completed the 'Triple Crown of swimming with her fifth place finish.
Irish eyes were indeed smiling when Carol Cashell of Sandycove SC, set an Irish record for the swim when she nailed sixth place in MIMS to her swimming CV. And as one of Carol's blog aphorisms goes, "don't count the days, make the days count." She was fundraising for Down Syndrome Ireland. Looking back, this was great compensation for her 4.30 am breakfast described by Carol as "not right."
Cashell finished ahead of Marilee Kiernan, a multiple "All American" swimmer. Kiernan's most exciting pool moment was swimming the breaststroke leg of a medley relay anchored by twelve-time Olympic medalist Jenny Thompson. Kiernan's grandmother, Marilee Stepan Wehman, medaled in the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games. Her great grandmother, was a US National Champion in 1929. Kiernan also swam the Straits of Gibraltar in a wetsuit, with her time being the second fastest by a woman ever to swim the Strait.
Tory Gorman did 8 mins per km for the last 15km of MIMS to take tenth place. She was the 22nd Australian woman to swim the English Channel.
Tim Donovan, a self-described "Open water swimmer, fumbling musician and hopeless geek" finished 11th. Two weeks before the swim, he did a main training set of 10x400 on 6:00 @ MIMS pace. In the race, he started with a steady pace of 63 strokes per minute. Tim's tweet account experience was that the water temperature was "muuuuuch warmer in the Hudson!! 70.3F - ten degrees warmer than the Harlem... Yay! A bath!" By the Broadway bridge he was maintaining 56 strokes per minute and was battling the cold. "Very very cold now, teeth chattering. Quarter bottle hot water only given, small smile" tweeted his crew. They later tweeted "TD reporting very cold and cramping everywhere at 11:54am, given electrolyte solution and encouraged to kick on" His team urged him through the worst tweeting " Tim saying he feels crap after battling extremely tough current in hells gate. Urged him on " Donovan was one of 11 lucky swimmers to completely circumnavigate Manhattan and receive an official time.
James Penrose, a 60 year-old Michigan lawyer is based in London and also received a "Boat Assisted Finish". A graduate from Hackett Catholic Central, with degrees from Western Michigan University, Cambridge University and Columbia University. He has been living and working in London for the past eight years. He is an English Channel soloist and suffered tendinitis in his forearms, and his wrist was heavily swollen after the swim "That's what God made massages for," he said.
South London SC's Ellery McGowan had a great swim, proving that at 66 years old, age is but a number.
We congratulate all the swimmers and organisers who have to battle organisation and the elements annually, and these results confirm just how tough the MIMS swim is. Keep on swimming Deirdre and Tory.
(johntierneyswim AT live DOT com)
RESULTS
+++++++
1 Newsome, Paul Male 34 Bridlington 1 07:14:53:00
2 Hinds, Lochie Male 17 Sydney 2 07:20:15:00
3 Leonard, William Male 34 Ottawa, Ontario 3 07:31:06:00
4 Roberts, Ceinwen Female 32 Perth 4 07:31:11:00
5 Dooley, Katy Female 46 Austin, Texas 5 07:44:58:00
6 Cashell, Carol Female 34 Cork, Ireland 6 07:46:59:00
7 Kiernan, Marilee Female 25 Bronxville, New York 7 07:56:20:00
8 Delaurentis, Lisa Female 32 Perth 8 08:01:19:00
9 Hughes, John Male 51 Harrison, New York 9 08:04:23:00
10 Gorman, Victoria Female 31 Sydney 10 08:53:55:00
11 Donovan, Timothy Male 30 Perth 11 09:50:05:00
12 Sanders, Gretchen Female 32 Austin, Texas Did Not Finish
13 Van der Byl, Grace Female 34 Solana Beach, California Did Not Finish
14 Helguera, Gustavo Male 39 Rosario Did Not Finish
15 Lichtenwalter, Kenn Male 48 New York, New York Boat Assisted
16 Penrose, James Male 60 London, United Kingdom Boat Assisted
17 Ward, Deirdre Female 33 London, United Kingdom Boat Assisted
18 Hirschman, Nicole Female 39 Stony Brook, New York/Tucson, Arizona Boat Assisted
19 Ho, Phyllis Female 51 New York, New York Boat Assisted
20 Herrick, Charles Male 52 Sandy Hook, Connecticut Boat Assisted
21 Dods, Suzie Female 52 San Francisco, California Boat Assisted
22 Throsby, Karen Female 45 Coventry, United Kingdom Boat Assisted
23 Clifford, Devon Female 23 New Rochelle, New York Boat Assisted
24 Rosen, Caitlin Female 33 Seattle and Brooklyn Boat Assisted
25 Maher, Liam Male 43 Cork Boat Assisted
26 Samuels, Charlotte Female 15 Ridgewood, New Jersey Boat Assisted
27 Levy, Frank Male 46 Scarsdale, New York Boat Assisted
28 Neri, Jesus Male 48 Mexico City, Mexico Boat Assisted
29 Brynn, Charlotte Female 47 Stowe, Vermont Boat Assisted
30 Green, Steven Male 53 Los Angeles,CA Boat Assisted
31 McGowan, Ellery Female 66 Godalming, United Kingdom Boat Assisted
32 Morris, Wayne Male 43 Perth Boat Assisted
33 Neitz, James Male 45 Ventura, California Boat Assisted
34 Hunt, Andrew Male 52 Perth Boat Assisted
35 Wilson, Geoff Male 49 Perth Boat Assisted
36 Downie, Paul Male 52 Cottesloe Boat Assisted
37 Cummins, Lisa Female 30 Cork Boat Assisted
38 Thorpe, Victoria Female 28 London Boat Assisted
39 Braga, Giuliana Female 40 Brasília Boat Assisted
2 Person Relay Relay
++++++++++++++
Gender Age Hometown Place Time
1 "G2"Goldberg, Bruce Gallagher, Douglas Male 61Male 37
New York, New YorkNew York, New York1 08:09:33:00
2 "David & Abby"Uprichard, DavidFairman, Abigail Male 47Female 36New York, New YorkNew York, New York Boat Assisted
3 "Invaders from Soviet Canuckistan"Hines, FrederickCroll, Bryce Male 34Male 29
Toronto, Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada Boat Assisted