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‘I
just want to get in the water,' marathon swimmer says
Kingston Whig Standard
By Jennifer Pritchett
August 12, 2003
Local News - SACKETS HARBOR, N.Y.
Looking across the vastness of Lake Ontario from Sackets Harbor, N.Y.,
John Munro dips his foot into the dark blue water and thinks ahead a few
hours to the start of his 56-kilometre swim back home to Kingston.
If the weather permitted, the 52-year-old retired Toronto police officer
began his megaswim across the lake today at 7 a.m. to raise money for
the Kingston YMCA and for sports programs for children with
disabilities.
His exhausting journey will see him spend some 27 hours in the water and
cause him to lose as much as 20 pounds in one day.
If he is successful, he will become the oldest amateur swimmer to
complete the crossing.
Munro, who is married to former marathon swimmer and world-record holder
Vicki Keith, left Kingston yesterday aboard a motor-powered sailboat to
cross a smooth-as-glass Lake Ontario to Sackets Harbor – a trip that
took more than five hours.
He joked about how he would have to swim the distance back today.
“Vicki doesn’t like to boat across and see the vast expanse of
water, but I find it is relaxing,” he told The Whig-Standard on board
the 44-foot sailboat.
“As I’m going along, I can say that I will be there at a certain
point and I will be eating at another point. I can look to see where I
will be along the way. It doesn’t overwhelm me, it calms me.”
And though Munro says he is prepared for pretty much anything along the
way, he admits his biggest concern is the weather.
While the lake was calm yesterday as he crossed the water aboard the
sailboat with his wife, five friends, a Whig-Standard photographer and a
reporter, the forecast for today called for a 40-per-cent chance of rain
and a possibility of thundershowers until noon.
Those conditions would certainly put his marathon swim on hold for a
while.
Munro hopes there are no delays and no interruptions during the swim.
“I just want to get into the water and start swimming,” he said
yesterday.
Abandoning the swim part way through is not something he wants to think
about.
“It brings disappointment with it, but it’s part of it,” he said.
“You either meet the challenge or you abandon it. You really have to
mentally prepare yourself.”
So he fuelled up on Hawaiian pizza last night before retiring to his
room at the Ontario Place Hotel in Sackets Harbor to catch seven hours
of much-needed sleep before getting up at 5 a.m.
He won’t sleep again until tomorrow night when he is expected to have
finished and arrived back home in Kingston.
Munro hoped to be well on his way to completing his record-setting
crossing by tomorrow morning.
It’s all about being focused, and he’s ready to begin the longest
swim of his life, he said.
He has trained several hours a day since last September, dropping two
pants sizes from his six-foot, 210-pound frame while getting his body
into tip-top shape.
In recent days his training has switched from the physical to the mental
preparation he needs to complete the massive undertaking.
“It’s going to be very tough for me,” he said. “At certain
points I’m going to be very tired and I have to be prepared for
that.”
This week’s marathon swim is the third in a series for Munro’s
fundraiser called the Y Knot Marathon to raise money and awareness for
the YMCA and for children with disabilities. He hopes to raise about
$80,000 for the cause.
On Canada Day, he swam four miles from the Village of Bath to Amherst
Island. Five weeks ago, Munro swam across Lake Erie in nine hours and 35
minutes.
He is expected to arrive at Kingston’s Confederation Basin between 10
a.m. and noon tomorrow. Anyone interested in making a donation can call
the
YMCA or they can call Munro’s Y Knot Marathon hotline at 546-2647.
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