Martha Wood’s Marathon Swim Story

In this episode of Marathon Swim Stories with Martha Wood we talk about reacquainting yourself with the water after 15 years, life preparing you for marathons, training your kayaker, and so much more!

This is how Martha described herself on her 20 bridges application: Martha Wood grew up in New Hampshire immersed in a life as a competitive swimmer.  She swam on the swim team and played water polo in college, and swam on masters teams on and off for 15 years before taking a 15 year break from swimming.  After returning to the water 6 years ago, Martha started swimming in open water by her home in Manchester, Massachusetts.  After a health crisis in 2014, she undertook marathon and ice swimming as a way to return to health.  Over the years she has come to recognize marathon swimming as a means of finding inner strength and joy, and comraderie with other swimmers.  In the summer of 2019 she was the first place female at the 15.5 mile St. Vincent’s Swim Across the Long Island Sound.  2018 she placed second in the 25km Border Buster at the Kingdom Swim.  She also competed at the 2018 World Winter Swimming Championships in Estonia,  winning 4 gold, one silver and one bronze medal, and plans to compete in ice swimming competitions Winter 2019-2020.  She will to continue to challenge herself by swimming all four stages of SCAR in April.  Inspired by the joy of swimming and fellow swimmers she has met along the way, Martha looks forward to swimming 20 Bridges.