Liz Fry is the sort of person who makes the rest of us feel inadequate. She is from Westport, Connecticut, is 52 and reportedly suffers from asthma. Nevertheless, yesterday she swam the thirty five miles from Battery Park in Manhattan to Sandy Hook, N.J and back. The water was 65 degrees. It appears the she broke the record for the swim on both legs of the trip and also became the first person to swim it both ways in one day. Wow. Our heartiest congratulations. As noted in the Daily New of Open Water Swimming: Liz Fry – the dynamo from Connecticut – is now one of the women in the pantheon of New York City greats.
Westport Woman Sets Another Swim Record
Two years ago she became the first woman to swim clockwise against the current around Manhattan. From her NYSwim page, it appears that she has also swum the English Channel three times, participated in the Great Chesapeake Bay Swim a half dozen times, swam in three Manhattan Island Marathon Swims, swam the Catalina channel and participated in numerous races and swimming events.
As one might expect these days, yesterday’s swim was followed on Twitter. My favorite Tweet was “Large, fin-like object protruding from water turns out to not belong to shark.”
Thanks to Bonnie for posting about the swim on Facebook.
The mileage must be statute miles, because her average speed of about 3.15 mph, if it was in knots, would mean she was pretty much at hull speed the whole time. Even in mph, anything above 3 is an incredible performance for an endurance swim.
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