Devon Clifford Completes Triple Crown Of Stage Swims
Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.
Devon Clifford has a long track record of success in the open water. But in 2018, she became pioneers of a different sort.
She became the first woman to complete the Triple Crown of Stage Swims, a three-event series for solo marathon swimmers that requires the successful solo completion of a lake stage swim in Arizona, a river stage swim in New York, and an ocean stage swim in Hawaii, three completely different challenges that stretch across the United States.
The Triple Crown of Stage Swims, conceived by Joe Zemaitis, includes the following event:
* SCAR Swim Challenge: a 4-day, 4-stage 66.9 km lake stage swim: 15.2 km Saguaro Lake on Day 1 + 14.4 km Canyon Lake on Day 2 + 27.3 km Apache Lake on Day 3 + 10 km Roosevelt Lake on Day 4 in Arizona, USA organized by Kent Nicholas
* 8 Bridges Hudson River Swim: an 8-day, 7-stage 193 km river stage swim down the Hudson River: 29.4 km on Day 1 + 31.8 km on Day 2 + 21.2 km on Day 3 + 24.4 km on Day 4 + 31.8 km on Day 5 (The Beast) + 25.2 km on Day 6 + 29.1 km on Day 7 in New York, USA organized by New York Open Water
* Au I Na Mokupuni Ekolu Endurance Challenge Invitational: a 3-day 3-stage 42.9 km ocean channel stage swim: 14.2 km Auau Channel from the island of Maui to the island of Lanai on Day 1 + 13.7 km Pailolo Channel from the island of Maui to the island of Molokai on Day 2 + 15 km Kalohi Channel from the island of Molokai to the island of Lanai on Day 3 in Hawaii, USA organized by Dr. Steven Minaglia
Clifford completed the Triple Crown of Stage Swims on September 9th 2018:
She completed all 4 stage swims of the 2016 SCAR Swim Challenge at the age of 26:
* On 27 April 2016, she finished 26th in the 13.3 km crossing of Saguaro Lake in the SCAR Swim Challenge in 4 hours 20 minutes
* On 28 April 2016, she finished 26th in the 14.1 km crossing of Canyon Lake in the SCAR Swim Challenge in 4 hours 47 minutes
* On 29 April 2016, she finished 10th in the 22.8 km crossing of Apache Lake in the SCAR Swim Challenge in 10 hours 21 minutes
* On 30 April 2016, she finished 27th in the 10 km crossing of Roosevelt Lake in the SCAR Swim Challenge in 3 hours 54 minutes
She completed all 7 stage swims of the 2018 8 Bridges Hudson River Swim in New York finishing in 42 hours 40 minutes for the 20th fastest time in history at the age of 28:
* On 19 June 2018, she finished 6th in the 29.5 km Stage 1 at the 8 Bridges Hudson River Swim in New York in 5 hours 28 minutes
* On 20 June 2018, she finished 8th in the 31.9 km Stage 2 at the 8 Bridges Hudson River Swim in New York in 7 hours 12 minutes
* On 21 June 2018, she finished 6th in the 21.2 km Stage 3 at the 8 Bridges Hudson River Swim in New York in 4 hours 33 minutes
* On 22 June 2018, she finished 7th in the 24.1 km Stage 4 at the 8 Bridges Hudson River Swim in New York in 5 hours 15 minutes
* On 24 June 2018, she finished 9th in the 31.9 km Stage 5 at the 8 Bridges Hudson River Swim in New York in 9 hours 30 minutes
* On 25 June 2018, she finished 10th in the 25.3 km Stage 6 at the 8 Bridges Hudson River Swim in New York in 3 hours 56 minutes
* On 26 June 2018, she finished 5th in the 29.9 km Stage 7 at the 8 Bridges Hudson River Swim in New York in 6 hours 43 minutes
She completed all 3 stage swims of the 2018 ʻAu I Nā Mokupuni ʻEkolu Swim Challenge at the age of 28:
* On 7 September 2018, she swam the 14.2 km Auau Channel from the island of Maui to the island of Lanai in 6 hours 6 minutes
* On 8 September 2018, she swam the 13.7 km Pailolo Channel from the island of Maui to the island of Molokai in 5 hours 52 minutes
* On 9 September 2018, she swam 15 km across the Kalohi Channel from the island of Molokai to the island of Lanai in 5 hours 34 minutes
Photo shows Paul Towers, Dr. Steven Minaglia, Van Cornwell, Scott Schroeder, Stephen Rouch and Devon Clifford on the island of Molokai before the 2018 ʻAu I Nā Mokupuni ʻEkolu Swim Challenge in Hawaii.
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