Anne Cleveland, a stalwart in the channel swimming community, was voted in as a Honoree Swimmer in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame.
A familiar figure in the world-renowned La Jolla Cove north of San Diego, Anne Cleveland will be recognized for her accomplishments in a special induction ceremony in New York City on June 19th.
Anne was recognized for several channel swims as a solo swimmer and as an observer. But her road to success was kick started with a disappointment. In her first Catalina Channel swim attempt at the age of 43, Anne was pulled from the water in mid-channel. Yet, she later came back from that disappointment in victorious fashion in both the English Channel and Catalina Channels.
A very talented age-group swimmer, Anne initially quit swimming in her teens as did many women in her generation due to the lack of collegiate and post-graduate opportunities in the pool. But after more than two decades retired from competition, she dove back into the water with gusto and has more than made up for lost time in her open water swimming career.
Over the course of her career, Anne crossed the Maui Channel (4:09 in 2000 and 5:22 in 2001), the Catalina Channel (10:15 in 2001), the English Channel (12:32 in 2002, a two-way in 28:36 in 2004 and 11:33 in 2007) and the Pacific Swim 10K in Fiji (2:41 in 2008).
She became the oldest person, at the age of 48, to make a two-way crossing of the English Channel for which she received the Channel Swimming & Piloting Federation Award for the Most Meritorious Swim by a Woman. She has also participated in a two-way Catalina Channel relay (2000), a one-way Catalina Channel relay (2003), a 52°F (11°C) relay swim in the Haro Straits in Canada, and relay swims in San Diego. She also served as President of the La Jolla Cove Swim Club (2001-2002), as a volunteer Observer for the Catalina Channel Swimming Federation and served as an Official Observer on English Channel swims in 2002 and 2004.
Her comeback after such a long layoff is common among older open water swimming women. And her joy is evident as she churns the open waterways of the world as the newest Honor Swimmer in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame.
Copyright © 2011 by Open Water Source