Marcia Cleveland (61, USA, MSF bio here, IISA bio here, @marciac944) has done the Frosted Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming with an Ice Mile in 4.15°C water and 2.20°C air, one of the fastest 45.9 km Manhattan Island Marathon Swims in history, was the solo finisher in the 25 km Swim Across The Sound in 2014, completed the California Triple Crown of Marathon Swimming with crossings of the Santa Barbara Channel, Catalina Channel, and Lake Tahoe and the Grand Slam of Open Water Swimming, and most recently the Oceans Seven.
But, in her own words [see below], she is now stepping it up on her most difficult swim in her career.
“Start with the English Channel. Remove the salt, the jellyfish, the containerships, the tides, and 10 degrees of latitude. Now add zebra mussels, quagga mussels, and 10 degrees of heat. Multiply the distance by two. Now add another three miles. What do you get?
The Across Lake Michigan Swim 2025.
Starting Sunday at noon (or Monday at noon) central time, I will attempt to swim 45 miles across Lake Michigan from Union Pier, Michigan to 57th7th Street Beach in Chicago. I am attempting to become the fourth person to swim unassisted in Lake Michigan between Michigan and Chicago. This is the longest and most challenging swim I’ve done, but have trained harder than ever, and will do my best. Sean Ryan joins as a crew member and Kevin Biehl is providing expert weather guidance.
I’m attempting this swim as I’ve lived on each side of the Lake for 20yrs+, so as an open water swimmer, a crossing attempt feels a bit like destiny. Not many folks have swam between Michigan and Chicago unassisted – only three. An Egyptian (Adel-Latif Abou Heif), and American (Ted Erikson) in 1963, and a Canadian (Vicki Keith) in 1988. The starting point in Union Pier, Michigan is where Vicki Keith started her swim in 1988. The end point is the beach in Chicago in front of the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry where the 1993 University of Michigan Solar Car is housed. I was part of that Michigan team and the current team is racing across Australia this August in the World Solar Challenge.
We have two escort boats, a 35 -oot main boat to set the course, and a 14-foot rib to guide the swimmer and provide the feeds. Total crew of nine people in addition to the swimmer. Two additional crew on shore to help with medical concerns and a meteorologist to help with the weather. We have multi-channel communication including a Starlink which we hope gives us connectivity across the lake where cell phone coverage isn’t available and we can share fun updates. If I get the same kind of Divine help I had in the Hawaii swim, I will have a fighting chance.”
Her GPS tracker is https://track.rs/walberer/.
Marcia Cleveland’s Oceans Seven Journey
- July 1994: 33.5 km crossing of the English Channel from England to France in 9 hours 44 minutes at the age of 30
- August 2005: 32.3 km crossing of the Catalina Channel from Catalina Island to the mainland in 8 hours 56 minutes
- July 2018: 35 km crossing of the North Channel from Northern Ireland to Scotland in 15 hours 3 minutes
- August 2019: 19.5 km crossing of the Tsugaru Channel from Honshu to Hokkaido in northern Japan in 10 hours 11 minutes
- March 2022: 45 km crossing of the Molokai Channel from Molokai to Oahu in 17 hours 45 minutes
- March 2023: 23 km crossing of the Cook Strait between South Island and North Island in New Zealand in 11 hours 54 minutes
- May 2025: 14.4 km crossing of the Strait of Gibraltar from Spain to Morocco in 4 hours 1 minute at the age of 61
- Her cumulative time for the Oceans Seven crossings was 77 hours 34 minutes
For more information on Cleveland, visit www.doversolo.com.
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