Ocean swimming veteran and lifeguard Kelsey Cummings won her 8th consecutive Dwight Crum Pier-to-Pier Swim, a 2-mile ocean between the Hermosa Beach Pier and the Manhattan Beach Pier near the LAX International Airport yesterday.
Cummings has always finished in the top 10 overall during her 8-year run on top of the women’s division, but this year was special. She got off to a good start and was the lone woman in the lead pack. She went stroke-for-stroke over the bumpy race course – and then wave-for-wave coming into the finish – with the overall winner 18-year-old Luka Van Dijk.
The pair bodysurfed together coming into the finish, but the younger and taller teenager just had the legs to outrun Cummings by a second at the onshore finish.
Dwight Crum is the namesake for the pier-to-pier swim. Crum was the famed Lifeguard Captain in the area and the coordinator when the International Surf Festival first began in 1962. He held this position until his retirement in 1972. Crum swam the Pier-to-Pier Swim event for 33 consecutive years – from the age of 39 until the age of 72. When he retired, the 2-mile Dwight Crum Pier-to-Pier Swim was renamed in his honor.
2025 Dwight Crum Pier-to-Pier Swim Top 10 Results
- Luka Van Dijk, Manhattan Beach 37:57
- Kelsey Cummings, 32, El Segundo 37:58
- Harvey Lake, 19, Hermosa Beach 38:09
- Mitchell Bailey, 17 38:14
- Xavier Orlic, 20, Washington DC 38:22
- Xavier Purcell, 19, Hermosa Beach 38:55
- Joby Bernstein, 30, San Francisco 39:01
- Pablo Ingrum, 16 39:11
- Alex Kostich, 55, Los Angeles 40:06
- Lukas Dempsey, 32, Venice 40:37
Full results are posted here.
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