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Munro sets record for Lake Ontario crossing

Kingston Whig Standard
By Jennifer Pritchett
August 14, 2003

Local News - In front of a cheering crowd of about 2,000, an exhausted but exuberant John Munro touched the Confederation Basin wall last night, 35 hours and 15 minutes after starting his record-breaking swim across Lake Ontario.

In the water behind him, more supporters aboard two dozen boats – including the Canadian Coast Guard and the Island Belle – watched after escorting him to the waterfront as their horns blared and spectators on board yelled “Go, John, Go.”

The fanfare was an appropriate welcome for a man who had given a Herculean effort.

After reaching out and touching land for the first time since early Tuesday morning, the Amherst Island man emerged from the water just after 7 p.m. with a huge smile on his face.

His accomplishment made him the oldest amateur swimmer to cross the lake and he also set a record for the longest distance single crossing of Lake Ontario.

But the retired Toronto police officer was never motivated by setting records. Instead, he decided to swim Lake Ontario as a fundraiser for the Kingston YMCA and for sports programs for children with disabilities.

Appearing strong and healthy, he quickly turned to speak to the large crowd gathered on the shore to welcome him home.

“Kingston is a great city. Thank you,” he said, moments after he was helped onto a boat near waiting near the shore and wrapped into a warm blanket.

“I’m feeling exhausted. I’m feeling elated. I’m happy.”

Munro, 52, was floored by the number of supporters who turned out for his arrival, which had been expected more than eight hours earlier.

Throughout the marathon swim, Munro had faced several obstacles, including five-foot waves, a large thunderstorm that threatened to move in to sabotage his swim, nausea and a sore shoulder.

“There were some challenges out there and that’s all part of it,” he told the spectators. “Fortunately, I was able to handle it. I had no doubts.”

Munro’s wife, Vicki Keith, who is herself a former marathon swimmer and world-record holder, hugged her husband and said she never doubted he could finish the 56-kilometre swim from Sackets Harbor, N.Y., to Kingston.

“I am awed by my husband,” she said. “He is exhausted beyond belief, beyond words. There is no way to understand how he feels right now unless you’ve done it. He put his heart and soul into this.”

But Keith also admits there were some problems out on the water and said there were times that she had serious concerns.

“I always knew that he could make it, but those last few miles,” she said, as her voiced trailed off.

“We had a lightning storm in front of us, a lightning storm behind us with blue sky above us,” she said of the weather Munro encountered on the first day of his mega-swim.

A sailboat with Munro’s crew on board also encountered electrical difficulties twice in 12 hours and crew members had to work to fix the problem – an issue that didn’t affect the swimmer, but had to be worked out.

Keith also said it was the cheering crowds and the boats that accompanied her husband into shore that kept him in the water and pushing forward when he was unbelievably tired.

In addition to the five boats carrying Munro’s support crew that accompanied him all the way from Sackets Harbor, about a dozen others, including the OPP and the Kingston Fire Department, joined him about five miles outside Kingston.

The upper deck of the Island Belle was filled with supporters who each paid at least $10 in support of the cause. A giant banner with the words, “Way to Go John. You Rock” was pinned to the side of the boat.

Keith said her husband was buoyed by the cheers of support he received from people on the water throughout the swim, particularly as his energy began to wane overnight and into yesterday morning.

By noon yesterday, Keith, who paddled a kayak next to her husband during the 35-hour marathon, decided to get into the water and swim alongside him because she was so concerned about the way he was swimming with his sore left shoulder.

“I was in the water because I really felt he needed help with his strokes,” she said, referring to the way his left arm was not coming out of the water all the way because of the pain he was suffering.

Keith said there was major concern about the shoulder because Munro tore his rotator cuff in his shoulder about six years ago on a lake crossing and he had to be pulled bleeding from the water two kilometres before finishing.

That injury took more than six months to heal.

She stayed in the water for about two hours as Munro made his way through the channel between Wolfe and Simcoe Islands.

But when he turned the corner around Simcoe Island and the Kingston skyline was in sight, Munro knew he was in the home stretch.

His speed improved as more boats from Kingston joined the flotilla, including a boat carrying several children who are members of the Kingston Penguins swim team, which will receive some of the money he has raised on his Y Knot Marathon.

David Brady, whose son Brendan swims on the team, said he has a tremendous amount of respect for Munro – both for the crossing and the amount of dedication he has to raising money for children with disabilities.

“Against all obstacles and even after he ran into severe pain, he continued,” he said.

Last night at Confederation Basin, strangers in the crowd could not believe that Munro swam 56 kilometres across the lake.

Audrey Shadbolt said the marathon swim was nothing short of incredible.

“I think it’s absolutely amazing,” she said. “I was here when Vicki Keith crossed the lake and this is just amazing. I can’t believe it.”

The Kingston woman said people can learn a lot from Munro’s determination and hard work it required for him to make the crossing.

“I can’t go home and complain about anything now,” she said with a laugh.

Pat Daniels said she could never imagine doing such a feat and said the fact that he is 52 makes even more awe-inspiring.

“That was great, eh?” she said. “It’s just amazing because of his age and because of the distance. Just simply unbelievable.”

Munro said he was shocked by the number of people who turned out to welcome him home.

“To see all these people here for an old guy on a swim is awesome,” he said.

He isn’t sure whether he will do another marathon swim.

“I won’t rule out another,” he said.

Munro’s plans last night after he completed the crossing included eating and then getting some sleep.

Munro had hopes to raised about $80,000 for the Y Knot Marathon. Last night, the tally for the total amount of money raised so far was not available.

Anyone interested in donating can call the Kingston YMCA or the hotline at 546-2647.