Courtesy of Michael Rök and Jim Cotton, Waikiki Roughwater Swim, Hawaii.

Jim Cotton, one of the founders of the Waikiki Swim Club, the 2.4-mile Waikiki Roughwater Swim, and the 9.6-mile Maui Channel Swim from the island of Lanai to Maui. He was one of the first members of the Waikiki Swim Club, serving as its first president between 1971 and 1974.

Cotton remains active and still serves as the historian of the biggest open water swim west of Lake Michigan.

Together with Michael Rök, Cotton introduced a new, free Do-it-yourself service of Cotton’s Waikiki Roughwater Swim history website, called the DIY Completion Certification program.

They created a new service that enables swimmers to print out and download their own personal swim history in the Waikiki Roughwater Swim.

33,881 swimmers from 7 to 88-year-old have finished the Waikiki Roughwater Swim between 1970 and 2018. 9,802 people were one-time finishers, 2,593 people finished twice, 1,316 swimmers three times, 328 swimmers finished more than 10 times, 50 swimmers have finished the event more than 20 times. The Top 10 all-time most-finishers with the most completed Waikiki Roughwater Swims include:

Top 25 Most Finishes 1970-2018

1. Betty Ann Cary Barnett Sallee 71 years 37 finishes
2. Ray Nakamoto 65 years 36 finishes

2. Alton Motobu 67 years 36 finishes
4. Joe Lileikis 54 years 1981-2017 35 finishes

4. Kenneth Miyaki 35 finishes
6. Bruce Clark 75 years 34 finishes

7. Rick Heltzel 60 years 31 finishes
7. Phyllis Quinn 61 years 31 finishes
9. Patrick Dixon 67 years 30 finishes

9. Carl Kawauchi 71 years 30 finishes

9. John Cater 71 years 30 finishes

12. Bill Monsen 54 years 1987-2017 29

12. Richard Heltzel 54 years 29
12. Todd Presley 54 years 29

To obtain your own DIY finisher certificate, visit here.

The history of the Waikiki Roughwater Swim is published here.

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