Former Dartmouth swimmer Elizabeth Mancuso won the 8-mile Boston Light Swim in 59°F (15°C) waters yesterday in 2 hours and 42 minutes after an unusually close finish over Dori Miller of Bondi Beach, Australia, and Lance Ogren of New York.

Elizabeth told the Boston Globe, “I knew I was out front, but I didn’t know exactly where I was. I didn’t know I won until after.” Swimming in great conditions, the field swam in America’s longest running open water swim, dubbed ‘The Granddaddy of American Open Water Swims’.

“Having so many swimmers coming in all at once to a near-photo finish was remarkable and an unusual conclusion to this year’s race,” said Greg O’Connor, Boston Light Swim Race Director, who himself did a double-crossing the day before. “In long swims like this, the swimmers usually spread out a lot more, but we had a really exciting finish with three solo swimmers all in the hunt for the win.”

Solo Swimmer Results with age and time:
1. Elizabeth Mancuso, 24, 2:42:15
2. Dori Miller, 39, 2:42:45
3. Lance Ogren, 39, 2:42:57
4. Robert Fernald, 43, 2:52:35
5. Davis Lee, 35, 2:58:23
6. Humphrey Bohan, 35, 2:58:43
7. Dave Barra, 45, 3:00:31
8. Don MacDonald, 48, 3:01:08
9. Douglas McConnell, 52, 3:08:49
10. Sheryl Bierden, 37, 3:15:57
11. Eileen Burke, 47, 3:24:23
12. Kyle Murray, 51, 3:30:22
13. Kim Garbarino, 52, 3:39:26
14. Mike Hodel, 33, 3:39:58
15. Courtney Paulk, 40, 3:44:38
16. Ralph Macintyre, 59, 3:47:56
17. Alan Morrison, 48, 3:48:40
18. Rachel Golub, 33, 3:50:00
19. Dave Evangelista, 47, 4:14:45
20. John Daprato, 57, 4:23:44
DNF: Suzanne Sataline, Kenn Lowy, Dave Osmond, William Dailey, Darlene Awalt

Relays:
1. Seb Neumayer, Santiago Lima, John Kelleher, 2:42:19
2. Doug McKell, James Walker, Bobby Dawe, 3:36:26
3. Mike Ribeiro, Rebecca Osborn, 3:45:57
4. Amy Wu, Silverio Bracaglia, 4:03:31

Copyright © 2010 by Steven Munatones