Marathon swimmers come from all walks of life. Some start as tots, others find their passion midlife. Whether you’re a seasoned marathon swimmer, aspiring, or just intrigued, something can be learned from the stories of these remarkable endurance athletes.
Jennifer Dutton started marathon swimming across Candlewood lake in Connecticut as a teenager in the 80’s. 10 miles as part of a fundraiser swim – “Everyone did it. It wasn’t a big deal. We didn’t even train.” she says. Now a mother to two college aged kids, Jennifer recently brought marathon swimming full circle by completing 27 miles in Lake […]
Lately I’ve spent some time with my kids looking at a globe, “if you fly over it, can you see the border?” they ask. No. These are lines drawn by man. Man argues, wars, and discriminates over lines, I tell them. As today’s guest, Melinda Menzer says, “you can’t fence in the water”, and she loves swimming across those silly […]
Today we chatted a marathon swimmer who first circumnavigated Manhattan in 1991. In 1994, she crossed the English Channel, documenting her preparation in her book Dover Solo. Upon completing the Catalina Channel in 2005 Marcia Cleveland set the record for the fastest Triple Crown, a record that still stands today. And she’s still swimming marathons, having completed the Tsugaru Straight […]
In today’s episode we spoke with Mark Sheridan from his office in London. Growing up Mark was an all around athlete, but couldn’t conceive of swimming more than a mile until relatively recently. Being smack dab in the middle of the financial crisis as an employee of Leman Brothers, in 2008 he sought the pool for comfort. After hiring a […]
I could barely contain my excitement when talking to today’s guest, a professional marathon swimmer, Sandra Frimerman-Bergquist. As we discuss in the episode, Sandra has been knocking her swimming dreams out of the park the last few years, participating in the FINA Marathon and Ultramarathon Swim Series, setting the record for the St Lucia channel, swimming the Traversee du Lac […]
After a foot injury halted his ultra marathon running career, Darren Miller read Swimming to Antarctica, and was inspired by Lynne Cox. He immediately set his sights on the English Channel. Within 3 years, in August 2013, Darren was the fourth person and the second American to complete the Oceans Seven – completing each of the grueling channel swims in […]
Marathon Swim Stories has been a gift to me in so many ways, and how about this one, meeting a kindred spirit halfway around the world in Northern Ireland! Michelle Macy recommended that I find out Maureen McCoy’s story, and I’m so glad that we connected. Maureen literally wrote the book on wild swimming in Ireland – https://wildswim.wordpress.com/! And her love […]
An amazing story teller with many a story to tell, I could talk to Naji all day! But we finally cut ourselves off after just under an hour. A late onset swimmer, Naji was 43 when he learned to swim and wants nothing to do with pool swimming. “Out there” he says, referring to the Pacific ocean as the place […]
I can almost remember the first time that Jia joined us at Marathon Swim Stories way back in the early days of the pandemic – gosh, what was that, 3 months ago? She’s been a constant on our calls, and today I finally got to hear her story! Jia is a an award winner and product of the New York […]
If you’ve done the Catalina Channel, you’ve likely heard of, met, or had our guest, Dan Simonelli, as you kayaker! In 2015, Dan received the MSF Streeter Award for Service to Marathon Swimming, and in fact has supported over 200 marathon swims as either coach, crew chief, support crew, or kayaker. A testament to his own marathon swimming pursuits, in […]