Courtesy of WOWSA, Manhattan Island, New York.
“Whew it has been a day, but thrilled to say I am a Triple Crown swimmer,” wrote Melissa Kegler after her completion of the 20 Bridges Manhattan Island Swim. “It was definitely anything but a stroll in the park, extremely challenging swim today.”
The 35-year-old fromRedmond, Washington explained her reasons for her open water swimming goals on the 20 Bridges website, “When I first started I didn’t know what I could or couldn’t do with open water swimming. Everything was new. When the idea of swimming Catalina, England and New York came about, the first thought that came to mind was ‘I wonder if I could?’ and then that was it, the pursuit of the challenge began.”
Her 45.8 km 9 hour 24 minute circumnavigation swim around Manhattan Island was in support of One More Wave, a San Diego charity organization that provides wounded and disabled veterans with the customized surfing equipment and assistance necessary to achieve surf therapy for the mind and body.
Whether she was swimming around New York, between England and France, or in the Pacific Ocean, she knows “there’s a whole place under the water’s surface that’s amazing, unknown, scary and inviting all at the same time. It’s a place I want to get to know that challenges me to think differently.”
To support Kegler’s cause, visit here. To learn more about Kegler, visit her blog here.
20 Bridges June 30th Results
1. Nathalie Pohl (24, Marburg, Germany) 8:12:39
2. Ned Wieland (16, Sydney, Australia) 8:21:51
3. Luca Pozzi (33, San Francisco, California) 8:21:57
4. Samuel Vidal Fernandez (37, Alicante, Spain) 8:48:27
5. Rene Martínez Saenz (37, Mexico City) 8:59:36
6. Jenny Smith (44, Chattanooga, Tennessee) 8:52:32
7. Peter Dolnik (52, Slovakia) 9:17:49
8. Melissa Kegler (36, Redmond, Washington) 9:24:17
9. Peter Lofquist (56, Mesa, Arizona) 9:40:07
10. Ingrid Bon (48, Boca Raton, Florida) 9:50:22
11. Kate Robarts (57, Newquay Cornwall, UK) 10:09:56
12. Kamil Resa Alsaran (57, Istanbul, Turkey) 10:15:45
12. Ragip Vural Tandoğan (54, Istanbul, Turkey) 10:15:45
14. Pat Gallant-Charette (67, Westbrook, Maine) 10:53:27
DNF Zoe Sadler (45, Bramley, Tadley Hampshire, UK) aborted at 6:21:53
DNF Dongho Choi (53, Princeton, New Jersey) aborted at 7:30:32
For more information on the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming, visit here.
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