Bill Leonard (46, Canada, MSF bio here) has a perfect track record as a podium finisher in all his marathon swims over his 13-year career.

He has finished first in the 11 km King Wolf Swim, the 36.6 km Around the Island Marathon, and the 21 km Swim Around Charleston. He has finished second in the 16.1 km Kingdom Swim and the 57.9 km END-WET Marathon Swim and finished third in the 10 km  Swim Miami and the 45.9 km Manhattan Island Marathon Swim.

So it made sense that the 46-year-old Canadian from Ottawa nearly set the record in the traditional 50.5 km course across Lake Ontario from Niagara-on-the-Lake in the United States to Marilyn Bell Park in Canada in 14 hours 45 minutes on August 4th.

Madhu Nagaraja from GLOW Adventures wrote, “It was a nail biter watching the SPOT tracker because the time to beat was 14 hours 42 minutes set by John Scott in 1994. He did a heroic job of chasing the record by picking up his pace in the last two hours. The conditions were quite good with only a few waves and a lovely temperature at 22-23°C. Unfortunately, the air quality due to forest fire smoke was very unhealthy, but that didn’t seem to slow Bill down.

This swim prompted a discussion regarding the record. The fastest time on the record list is John Kinsella, from a professional race in 1978 that went from Port Dalhousie to Ontario Place, a distance of 48.8 km. This is significantly shorter than the traditional route that Solo Swims Ontario now considers for time records.”

The reason why the finish point is called Marilyn Bell Park is because Marilyn Bell was the first person to cross Lake Ontario.

Solo Swims Ontario Database up until 2024

1. Marilyn Bell, 16, Canada, 8-9 September 1954, 20:55, SN
2. John Jaremy, 36 Canada, 23 July 1956, 21:13, SN
3. Brenda Fisher, 28, England, 12-13 Aug 1956, 18:51, SN
4. Bill Sadlo, 57 years 116 days, USA, 23 Aug 1957, 25:01, SN
5. Jim Woods, 41, USA, 26 Aug 1957, 18:35, SN
6. Jim Woods, 45, USA, 2 Sep 1961, 17:07, SN
7. Cindy Nicholas, 16, Canada, 17 Aug 1974, 15:10, SN
8. Diana Nyad, 24 USA, 30-31 Aug 1974, 18:15, NS
9. Debbie Roach, 17, Canada, 16 Aug 1975, 18:30, SN
10. Angela Kondrak, 17, Canada, 22-23 Aug 1976, 23:48, SN
11. Kim Lumsdon, 19, Canada, 27 Aug 1976, 21:27, SN
12. John Kinsella, 25, USA, 16 Aug 1978, 13:49, SN
13. Claudio Plit, 23, Argentina, 16 Aug 1978, 15:01, SN
14. Raul Villagomez, 27, Mexico, 16 Aug 1978, 15:09, SN
15. Magdy Mandour, 23, Egypt, 16 Aug 1978, 15:19, SN
16. Bill Heiss, 26 USA, 16 Aug 1978, 15:57, SN
17. Loreen Passfield, 21, Canada, 1 Sep 1979, 15:43, SN
18. Jocelyn Muir, 15, Canada, 5 Sep 1981, 15:55, SN
19. Marilyn Korzekwa, 26, Canada, 1-2 Sep 1983, 21:29, SN
20. Cam Kamula, 29, Canada, 3-4 Aug 1984, 20:07, SN
21. Marilyn Korzekwa, 27, Canada, 17-18 Aug 1984, 21:00, NS
22. Kim Middleton, 26, Canada, 16-17 Aug 1985, 18:34, SN
23. Vicki Keith, 25, Canada, 14-15 Aug 1986, 26:59, NS
24. Vicki Keith, 26, Canada, 5-7 Aug 1987, 56:10, NSN
25. Vicki Keith, 27, Canada , 29-30 Aug 1988, 23:33, SN
26. Rick Wood, 31, Canada, 19 Aug 1989, 21:33, SN
27. Bob Weir, 46, Canada, 23-24 Aug 1989, 22:08, SN
28. Vicki Keith, 28, Canada, 3-4 Sep 1989, 31:00, SN
29. Paolo Pinto, 52, Italy, 28-29 Jul 1990, 23:57, SN
30. Colleen Shields, 38, Canada, 10-11 Aug 1990, 17:56, SN
31. Patty Thompson, 45, Canada, 14 Aug 1991, 19:18, SN
32. John Scott, 31, Canada, 7-8 Aug 1992, 14:50, SN
33. Carlos Costa, 20, Canada, 22-23 Jul 1993, 32:43, SN
34. Shelagh Freedman, 17, Canada, 12-13 Aug 1993, 26:03, SN
35. Kim Middleton, 34, Canada, 4-6 Sep 1993, 29:00, NS
36. Kim Middleton, 35, Canada, 30-31 July 1994, 26:14, NS
37. John Scott, 33, Canada, 12-13 Aug 1994, 14:42, SN
38. Rick Goodwin, 36, Canada, 27-28 Aug 1994, 27:06, SN
39. Ingrid Martin, 38, Australia, 11-12 Aug 1996, 23:25
40. Paula Stephanson, 17, Canada, 16-17 Aug 1996, 22:30, SN
41. Nicole Mallette, 31, Canada, 8-9 Aug 1997, 16:10, SN
42. Dan Foster, 33, Canada, 15 Aug 1998, 19:12, SN
43. Gregg Taylor, 19y 218d, Canada, 13-14 Aug 2003, 19:23, SN
44. Peter Gibbs, 56, Barbados, 7-8 Aug 2004, 18:40, SN
45. Melissa Brannagan, 23, Canada, 9-10 Aug 2005, 16:11, SN
46. Kim Lumsdon, 49, Canada, 5-6 Aug 2006, 26:38, SN
47. Samantha Whiteside, 36, Canada, 8-9 Aug 2006, 15:11:11, SN
48. Colleen Shields, 54y 329d, Canada, 12-13 Aug 2006, 16:30:17, SN
49. Stephanie Hermans, 21, Canada, 10-11 Aug 2007, 18:05:37, SN
50. Jay Serdula, 35, Canada, 28-30 Jul 2008, 41:01:00, SN
51. Shaun Chisholm, 40, Canada, 15-16 Aug 2008, 19:23:00, SN
52. Jade Scognamillo, 15y 237d, Canada, 31 Jul – 1 Aug 2009, 19:59:49, SN
53. Susanne Welbanks (Robinson), 39, Canada, 10-11 Aug 2010, 24:28, SN
54. Miguel Vadillo Sanchez, 40, Mexico, 10-11 Aug 2010, 18:03:49, SN
55. Rebekah Boscariol, 17, Canada, 5-6 Aug 2011, 15:33:15, SN
56. Christine Arsenault, 35, Canada, 8-9 Aug 2011, 22:22:25, SN
57. Annaleise Carr, 14y 158d, Canada, 18-19 Aug 2012, 26:40:54, SN
58. Ashleigh Beacham, 15, Canada-USA, 18 Aug 2013, 18:22:35, SN
59. Trinity Arsenault, 14y 71d, Canada, 3-4 Aug 2014, 23:19:57, SN
60. Colleen Shields, 62y 325d, Canada, 8-9 Aug 2014, 21:33:49, SN
61. Michael McIsaac, 32, Canada, 22 Aug 2015, 22:23:06, SN
62. Loren King, 48, Canada, 1-2 Aug 2016, 18:35:08, SN
63. Pat Gallant-Charette, 66y 209d USA, 29-30 Aug 2017, 24:28:19, SN
64. Elizabeth Fry, 58, USA, 11 Sep 2017, 15:46:16, SN
65. Victor Lal, 21, Canada, 1-2 Sep 2018, 21:05:00, SN
66. Jillian Best, 34, Canada, 3-4 Aug 2021, 18:36:00, SN
67. Juan Gabriel Acosta, 38, Colombia, 5-6 Aug 2021, 18:58:25, SN
68. Mark Sheridan, 52, England, 2-3 August 2022, 18:59:52, SN
69. Greg Maitinsky, 46, Canada, 5-6 August 2022, 16:16:26, SN
70. Sean Nuttall, 43y 234d, Canada, 12-14 August 2022, 42:27:08 = 18:31:55 + 23:55:13, NSN, 100.5 km
71. Bryce Croll, 39y 38d, Canada, 10 Sep 2022, 18:32:20, SN
72. Margaret (Maggie) Regan, 31y 270d, USA, 22-23 Aug 2023, 14:08:47, SN
73. Jessi Lidstone Harewicz, 41y 7m 27d, Canada, 7-8 July 2024, 22:07:52, SN
74. Cintia Cseuz, 48y 7d, Canada, 14-15 August 2024, 22:07:52, SN

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