Courtesy of Rondi Davies, Hudson River, New York Open Water.  Video courtesy of kayaker Michael Smalley.

Race director Rondi Davies reported on Stage 3 of the 8 Bridges Hudson River Swim, a 24.46 km river swim from the the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge to the Bear Mountain Bridge in New York’s Hudson River, “Stage 3 started on a peaceful Monday morning with little commercial traffic and calm conditions on the Hudson River as an influx of new swimmers arrived from [the states of] North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and California.

Patchy clouds turned to overcast with wind gusts arrived near the finish, but the rain held off until the swimmers had cleared the water.

In her longest career swim, Leslie Hamilton of New York won the stage, followed by Heather Fairbanks and John Batchelder. Batchelder switched from his usual butterfly to freestyle approximately 1 hour into the swim and even did a little backstroke under the bridge.”

That being said, Seven Stagers John Batchelder and Andrew Wells are ready to go in Stage 4 on their way to completing all 193 km of the world’s longest open water swimming competition.