History of the Kingdom Swim, courtesy of Phil White.

We started the Kingdom Swim 15 years ago in Vermont in 2009 on the last Saturday in July. The event included courses of 10 miles, 3 miles, 1 mile, and shorter distances just for kids. We added a 6-mile swim (now 10 km) in 2011 and a 15-mile swim (now 25 km) Border Buster in 2014. Each year, on Friday evening before the swim, we host a Memphremagog Costume Parade down Main Street in Newport, Vermont to welcome swimmers and kayakers to town, followed by a pasta dinner on the shores of Lake Memphremagog.

All to the rallying cry: NO LANES – NO LINES – NO LIMITS.

In 2009, we had 89 swimmers, with 29 in the 10-mile race. Greg O’Connor was the first person to sign up when we opened registrations. Rondi Davies of New York City won the 10-mile race outright with a time of 4 hours 4 minutes. John Humenik, also of New York City, won among the men with a time of 4 hours 34 minutes. By the second year, our numbers had grown to 195 swimmers, with 70 competing in the 10-mile race. Rondi Davies again won the 10-miler with a time of 3 hours 56 minutes. The event grew to over 200 swimmers for several years. We began to set limits in each distance to better assure safety during the starts and to assure adequate boat coverage out on the course. Our typical numbers now run between 125 to 150 each year.

When we first planned the 10-mile course we faced a choice: to set a one-mile distance in Newport Bay and circle it 10 times, which would have been simpler logistically and favor spectators or to set a single loop from Prouty Beach through Newport Bay. up the west side of the lake through Derby Bay, across northeast around Black, and Cove Islands and south past Bell Island and then back around The Bluffs to Prouty Beach. We chose the latter, for the beauty and adventure of the swim. Ned Denison of Cork Ireland and Leslie Thomas of San Francisco helped design this course and map it out. Pomerleau Real Estate and the EastSide Restaurant helped us purchase our first set of 15 buoys to mark the courses.

We only had enough to mark the turns, leaving some long stretches between some buoys. We have found that this increases the importance of the escort kayaker to navigate the course and have resisted the occasional call to set guide buoys along the longer stretches.

In 2011, we added the 6-mile distance (now the 10 km) to the mix to serve as a ladder between the 3-mile and 10-mile distances. In 2014, we added our 15-mile Border Buster now (25 km) to bring swimmers across the border into Canada and wide around Province Island. Since then, the Buster has served as an important qualifier for our 25-mile swim the length of Lake Memphremagog which we call In Search of Memphre.

That first year we had 8 Busters. Included in that group were Bill Shipp of Maryland who was preparing to swim the English Channel that year and Sarah Thomas, who had returned to the Kingdom after her historic 50-mile double cross of Lake Memphremagog in 2013. She and her husband, Ryan Willis, were on their honeymoon and the Buster served as a victory lap of sorts.

We got pre-approval from Canada for each swimmer and kayaker to enter Canada and, on their return reported them back to US Customs when they finished. After the second swimmer and kayaker reported back in, we were informed by the US officials that we didn’t need to report in because we had not touched Canadian soil or a Canadian boat. In subsequent years, the Canadians adopted the same approach. We had truly Busted the Border and we celebrated. Since then, the numbers of Border Busters run between 25 and 35 each year.

The Kingdom Swim has been run annually since 2009, with the exception of 2020 during the height of the pandemic. The Border Buster had to be redesigned to “bump” the border in 2021, when the border was still closed. In 2022 the border re-opened and we returned to crossing the border on this swim.

Every swimmer, except the one-milers, must be accompanied by an escort kayaker. We strongly encourage swimmers to bring their own, but for those who can’t, we arrange to match them with volunteers. Every year we recruit as many as 20 volunteer kayakers. We also enlist about 15 volunteer motor boaters to provide support out on the water, along with the Newport and State Police. About 10 to 20 Beach Bums provide the BBQ lunch on the beach. Barr Hill provides a Cocktail and Beer Tent.

Most of our volunteers are local residents, but some travel from California, Maryland, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Hampshire to support the open water swimming community and simply to join our iconic celebration of the Heart of the Summer in the Heart of the Northeast Kingdom on Lake Memphremagog.

We give out distinctive clay rocks and completion “woodals” (engraved medals made out of cedar wood) to all finishers. 1st, 2 nd , and 3rd placers receive Beef Jerky from Brault’s Slaughterhouse and maple syrup from Couture’s Maple Shop. The male and female winners of the 10-mile and 25 km races each receive a walking stick, hand carved by a beloved, retired physician, in addition to a full pound of jerky and a full gallon of maple syrup.

The Kingdom Swim offers three divisions of swimmer:

• Skins, complying with traditional channel crossing rules according to the Marathon Swimmers Federation
• Wetsuits and fast suits
• Assisted – with fins and snorkels

Craig Dietz, swimming without arms or legs, has swum the 10 km distance twice using a single flipper attached to one of his leg stumps. In 2016, he completed the swim in 4 hours 12 minutes and returned two years later to finish in 4 hours 48 minutes in tougher conditions. Others have used snorkels or fins to compensate for physical conditions that would otherwise prevent them from swimming.

The record set by Rondi Davies during 2009 and 2010 was smashed by Chris Deegan of Australia and Eva Fabian of New Hampshire in 2015. Using the race as a training swim for Olympic tryouts, Deegan finished in 3 hours 19.41 minutes, while Fabian cleared the water 10 seconds behind him with a time of 3 hours 19.51 minutes. As they rounded the Bluffs about a mile from the finish, they came up to Vera Rivard, then 12 years old, who was swimming the 10 km distance. They swam with her for a while before pulling away.

While Kingdom Swim has drawn many experienced marathon swimmers, it also has served as a ladder for many swimmers starting “short” but set on going long. Vera and her younger sister, Margaret, started with the 1 mile and ¼ mile swim when they were 10 and 7. Each year after that, they swam longer distances, eventually completing the Border Buster. They then completed In Search of Memphre, our 25-mile international swim between Newport, Vermont and Magog Quebec. Each went on to complete the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming when they were 16 years old. Another Triple Crowner, Paula Yankauskas, started as a 3-mile wetsuiter. She worked up the ladder, completing the 10-mile race without a wetsuit, then the Border Buster, then The Search and then on to the Triple Crown.

Charlotte Brynn, then of Stowe, Vermont, also started as a 3-mile wetsuiter in 2009. She swam the 10-mile race without a wetsuit in 2010 and 2011, and has since swum the 25-mile length of Lake Memphremagog, three times in 2011, 2017, and 2023, as well as the 32 mile length of Lake George, the Catalina Channel, and 20 Bridges around Manhattan.

The swim also includes many more who love to swim the shorter distances year after year. Laura Maliewski of Westmore, Vermont is one. She has swum the 3-mile distance each and every year of Kingdom Swim, right from the start.

Another is Curt von Kann of the District of Columbia. He and his sister share ownership of Cove Island. The first year, the family came out on the rocks, ringing cowbells as the 10-milers swam by. Curt was so excited he jumped in the water and swam halfway to Newport before turning around. The next year, he signed up for the one-mile swim and has swum it just about every year since, often with his son Harry. Curt has turned 80 this year, He and Harry are signed up for the 1-miler next July.

The men’s record in the 25 km Border Buster was set by Stephen Rouch, then of Indiana, in 2017 with a time of 6 hours 25.48 minutes. The woman’s record swimming with traditional channel crossing suits was set that same year by Jen Olsen, then of Massachusetts, now of Albany, Vermont with her time of 7 hours 1.54 minutes. Sandra Frimerman-Bergquist, wearing a fast suit (then recognized by FINA and USMS), finished in 5 hours 49.55 minutes. We have held Kingdom Swim in all kinds of weather.

Often, we will see two or three changes during the course of a swim. Winds can range from negligible to 10 to 20 mph steady from the Northwest. Water temperatures generally range from 67°F to 74°F. The very first year a significant thunderstorm rolled through the area at 5 am causing power outages throughout Derby and Newport. After the thunder and lightning and winds subsided, a heavy rain continued to fall, right up to 7:45 am when it stopped. The kayakers deployed and we started the 10-milers right on time at 8 am. By the time they returned to the beach the sun was out and the smell of BBQ lunch was pulling them to shore.

Kristin Jones on her way to winning the 10-mile race in 2013 in 4:05:46

In 2022, we launched Project Welcome to provide stipends to BIPOC swimmers to cover registration fees, travel, meals and lodging. It was based on the premise that the open water swimming community that has grown around our swims in the Northeast Kingdom has become a deep and wonderful Tribe, but … we are way too white. This first year we attracted three triathletes from Georgia and have three other swimmers from North Carolina signed up for 2024. We know we have a long ways to go, but Project Welcome is off to a great start. And, we had a blast.

We have never had to interrupt or postpone a Kingdom Swim because of a thunderstorm. We did have to delay the 5:30 am start of Border Buster one year because of dense fog. Some years are windier than other. We tell swimmers that winds and waves can be natural part of the sport of open water swimming. As long as our patrol boats can provide coverage, the race will go on. We ask of them to be their own judge of their capacity for rough water and liken it to downhill skiing. Some skiers love the moguls, others hate them.

This past year, northern Vermont experienced two weeks of heavy rains, flash floods, and rising lake levels filled with debris. We were forced to move Kingdom Swim to Lake Willoughby on short notice, offering 1.2, 5, 10, and 15 mile distances.

Next year’s Kingdom Swim will be held on July 27th 2024. A little over 80 swimmers have already signed up, with room for 70 more.

The event grew to over 200 swimmers for several years.  We began to set limits in each distance to better assure safety during the starts and to assure adequate boat coverage out on the course. Our typical numbers now run between 125 to 150 each year. Between 2009 and 2023, Kingdom Swim has drawn 2000 swimmers of all ages and abilities, from 7- to 80-years-old, novice to Olympian level and Triple Crowners. They have come from over 45 states. 3 Canadian provinces, and 15 nations, from India to Australia, Argentina and Mexico to the United Kingdom and Switzerland.

Online registration is open here at NEKOWSA Swim Registration – Kingdom Games.

For additional photographs, visit here and here.