Dreaming Big With Jaimie Monahan On WOWSA Live
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New Yorker Jaimie Monahan was told after one of her Ice Miles in Siberia by the attending physician, “You have no vital signs (because he could not obtain her blood pressure), but you seem OK.”
“I was smiling and laughing,” she recalled about her usual demeanor in the rewarming area. “Doctors are always very surprised because I am usually laughing while shivering.”
Monahan, one of the elite in the ice swimming world and solo marathon swimming world, always possesses and presents an ambiance of positivity. She is most definity a role model and icon. Her drive was developed early in her life. “My dad put a sign in my bedroom that said ‘Girls can do anything’ and I can say that I have lived by that motto.”
Her adventures around the world could fill volumes of historical books on the sport.
Most recently, she was featured in Haley Shapley’s new book, Strong like Her which celebrates female rule-breakers, history makers, and unstoppable athletes including Annette Kellerman, Rose Pitonof, Gertrude Ederle, and Monahan.
The two-time World Open Water Swimming Woman of the Year (2016 and 2017), International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame inductee (Class of 2018), the Ice Swimming Hall of Fame Honor Swimmer (Class of 2019), and Guinness World Record holder is an aquatic example of strength and courage mixed with ingenuity and creativity.
She discusses her global travels that includes one of her mentally difficult swims off the northern coast of Africa to the time she did an Ice Mile in Tasman Lake high up on Aoraki (Mount Cook), the highest mountain in New Zealand. The 1.14-mile swim took her 26 minutes 44 seconds in the 2.37°C glacier lake water, but the sun was shining and the air temperature was about 20°C (68°C). It was one of the few times that she had to put on sunscreen for ice swimming.
Listen in to the first person to complete Ice Sevens above on WOWSA Live.
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