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Swimmer
Munro on pace for Lake Ontario crossing
Kingston Whig Standard
By Jennifer Pritchett
August 13, 2003
Local
News - Guided by the light of a full moon, John Munro tries
to stave off exhaustion as he swims past the halfway point on his
56-kilometre crossing of Lake Ontario.
It’s 11 p.m. and the Amherst Island man has been in the water for more
than 15 hours and has another dozen or so to go.
He is moving steadily through the water, his green neon bathing cap
bobbing up and down as he swims freestyle under the blackened sky. His
pace hardly seems to have slowed at all since he left Sackets Harbor,
N.Y., at 7:45 a.m. yesterday when he began his Y Knot Marathon to raise
money for the Kingston YMCA and sports programs for children with
disabilities.
A successful crossing from New York to Kingston will make Munro, 52, the
oldest amateur swimmer to cross Lake Ontario and the first person to
cross this portion of the lake.
But he almost didn’t leave at all yesterday as the threat of a
thunderstorm loomed.
At 7:15 a.m., an emergency meeting of his crew was called on the Sackets
Harbor dock to decide whether he could safely swim.
The retired Toronto police officer, who is married to former marathon
swimmer and world-record holder Vicki Keith, said under no circumstances
would he jeopardize the safety of his crew to start his swim on
schedule.
“I guess my big concern is a thunderstorm and tomorrow is supposed to
be a better day,” he said.
His wife agreed.
“Not only is there a 30-per-cent chance of rain, but we are looking
into the sky and feeling the wind,” said Keith, who has helped Munro
train for the marathon swim since last September.
But after fielding several opinions from his 15-member crew, he
announced he was going.
“Get in the boats, guys. We’re going,” he told everyone.
Munro then hugged his wife and they said a prayer together.
“Now I can focus on getting the job done,” he told The Whig-Standard
as he made the short walk to the boat launch where he got into the water
in front of a small crowd, including several American television
reporters.
“I think the risk is low. Most thunderstorms move overland so I like
the idea of getting away from land.”
At 7:45 a.m., some 45 minutes after he had planned to leave, an
exuberant Munro snapped on his bathing cap, pulled down his goggles and
plunged into the water. Flanked by several ducks, Munro swam away from
the docks and out into Black River Bay away from Sackets Harbor as a
six-boat flotilla – which included the U.S. Coast Guard – followed
close behind.
Two hours later, the swimmer had his first feeding on the water.
Keith, who is paddling the 56-kilometre swim alongside Munro in a kayak,
tossed her husband some Heinz baby food in a plastic container that he
tipped up to his mouth.
International marathon swim regulations prevent him from touching the
side of the boat so he is forced to eat as he treads water.
He also consumes 2˝ arrowroot cookies and some orange sports drink.
Before he finishes his mega-swim in Kingston this morning between 10
a.m. and noon, Munro will have eaten more than a dozen times – a
feeding occurs every two hours – and he will have taken in a massive
amount of food.
In fact, over the course of his roughly 27-hour swim, he will consume 24
jars of baby food, 100 arrowroot cookies, 15 fruit cups, six servings of
homemade ginger chicken soup, eight cartons of rice drink and 10 bottles
of sports drink – all easily digestible food that will give him tons
of energy.
While the lake was calm and a balmy 78 F for most of yesterday morning,
winds picked up by early afternoon as Munro swam his way past the Point
Peninsula in New York and headed into the main part of Lake Ontario.
The change didn’t go unnoticed by Munro as five-foot waves were
breaking over his head during his third feeding in six hours.
“Is this what I am supposed to expect all day?” he asked.
Meanwhile, dark clouds were gathering on the horizon and several claps
of thunder boomed in the distance.
A radio in one of the boats accompanying Munro announced the storm
warning that remained in effect for eastern Lake Ontario from Kingston
to Cornwall.
Munro was still in the middle of the lake and the storm was headed right
for him.
Keith, who was paddling next to Munro, became worried as she scanned the
horizon to see which way the storm was moving.
“I was really concerned for a while. I thought we might have to
stop,” she said, after the sky had cleared a couple of hours later.
“It was five-foot waves and we had to paddle the kayak as hard as we
could to keep it going the way we wanted it to.”
As well, Keith noticed that Munro’s energy was beginning to wane late
in the afternoon, about eight hours after he started swimming.
“He is not feeling the best and he is getting a little tired,” she
said. “But he will be able to work through it.”
Later in the evening, Munro became nauseous but his wife was confident
that he could continue overnight.
Munro got a boost just after 11 p.m. when his support crew sang him O
Canada as he crossed into Canadian waters and was met by a Canadian
Coast Guard vessel.
Earlier yesterday, Munro was joined in the water by a child who will
benefit from the money he is raising.
Brendan Brady, a 14-year-old Amherst Island boy, has been a member of
the Kingston YMCA Penguins swim team for about nine months.
In that time, he has worked his way to becoming the ninth-fastest
swimmer in his swim class and age group in the province. He hopes to one
day make the national swim team.
Brady is thrilled to have accompanied Munro on his Y Knot Marathon
across Lake Ontario.
“It’s cool,” he said. “I came on the swim to be a deck hand.
What they’re doing is unbelievable. I can’t imagine doing what he is
doing.”
Brady said becoming a part of the swim team has taught him a lot and has
provided him with role models who inspire him.
“John and Vicki have taught me that you can do whatever you want to
do,” said the enthusiastic teen.
Anyone interested in donating to Munro’s Y Knot Marathon can call the
YMCA or they can call a hotline at 546-2647. The public is also invited
to meet Munro when he lands at Confederation Basin between 10 a.m. and
noon today.
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