The eyes of the marathon swimming world will be cast on New York City when 43 solo swimmers, 7 relays and 1 team pursuit relay will take to the waterways around Manhattan Island.
Similar to the 2011 race when a young female swimmer (Erica Rose) took off and kept going to a comfortable victory, expectations are high for speedy college senior Abigail ‘Abby’ Nunn.
Even with her endurance powered by a six-beat kick, the newcomer from Yale University is expected to be pushed by a trio of savvy veterans: Oceans Seven channel swimmer Darren Miller, 37-year-old Javier Gutierrez of California and 51-year-old former national team swimmer Tom Fristoe.
While the race near the front will include the young upstart and the veteran men may take the top honors, the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim is also about swimmers like Andrew Malinak and Donal Buckley.
Andrew a local from Brooklyn with a lifelong passion for swimming, is representative of the international field of competitors. He is working hard to follow-up his Strait of Gibraltar crossing while raising funds for Swim Free in the 28.5-mile circumnavigation. Meanwhile, Donal from his base in Carrick-on-Suir, Ireland is one of the leading voices of the sport of marathon swimming. He will colorfully describe his experiences in detailed post-swim reports on LoneSwimmer.com that will magically transport his readers inside the psyche of marathon swimmers, enabling them to figuratively understand the pressures, pain, self-satisfaction and jubilation that the ultra marathoners experience.
Shelley Taylor-Smith, a five-time winner of the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim, takes visitors on a tour of the event:
Photo courtesy of NYC Swim.
Copyright © 2012 by Open Water Source