Marilyn's 2016 Swims: Masters Swimming

Welcome to my 2016 swim website. For those of you who don't know me, I swam Lake Ontario the easy way in 1983 and the hard way in 1984. I “came out of retirement" to swim the English Channel (oldest Canadian woman) in 2011. In 2013, I was the oldest Canadian to swim the Catalina strait in California. After swimming around Manhattan Island (oldest Canadian) in 2014, I became the first Canadian to complete the Triple Crown of open water swimming (English Channel, Catalina Strait and Manhattan.) Last year I was the first to swim between three provinces: from Nova Scotia north to New Brunswick and across the Northumberland Strait to Prince Edward Island (34 kms). This year on March 18, I became the first Canadian and the oldest woman ever to swim the icy and turbulent Cook Strait between the south and north islands in New Zealand. (See links below for more detail.)

On August 11, 2016, I hope to become the first Canadian to swim from Plymouth to Provincetown, Massachusetts, across Cape Cod Bay. This “P2P” swim has only been accomplished by 6 people (all American), although the swim has been attempted numerous times since 1915. The swim from Manomet Beach in Plymouth to Herring Cove Beach in Provincetown is about 32 kilometers. The biggest challenge is the current which circulates in a counter-clockwise direction around the relatively shallow bay. The water temperature is expected to be between 16 and 21 degrees Celsius. The swim is officiated by the Massachusetts Open Water Swimming Association (MOWSA), whose rules are based on the English Channel rules. https://massopenwaterswimming.com/

I am pleased to be able to use this opportunity to raise money for Sashbear, an organization founded by Lynn Courey, whose daughter, Sasha, a swimmer with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), died by suicide in 2011. Sashbear funds education programs for therapists, families and in schools. I have dedicated my psychiatric career to the treatment and research of BPD, which has a suicide rate of 10%. More treatment programs and support for families are desperately needed in Canada. Please support my swim by donating to Sashbear. Thank you. http://sashbear.org/en/

Sunday 7 February 2016

Masters Swimming

The best way for older swimmers like myself to stay in shape during the winter is to join a Masters Swimming team. Swimmers 18 years and older train in regular workouts with a coach.

Masters Swimming Canada's (MSC) mission statement is "to lead, develop, and support adult swimming in Canada."
"Masters Swimming encourages participation regardless of level of ability, supports setting and achieving goals, promotes health and wellness through swimming, fosters friendships and is fun."

The MSC website http://mymsc.ca/ lists over 300 clubs across Canada. Most clubs hold a swim meet and then there are provincial, national and world competitions, In fact the 2014 worlds were held in Montreal.

For me, the best part of Masters swimming is trying to keep up with my swimming buddies. I've been competing against Debbie for 45 years. She paced me across the Catalina strait, where she earned the name "shark sister". Yesterday we swam with our new swim buddy, Mary, who is faster than both of us and has helped me get faster. Masters helps with the boredom of doing endless laps in the pool. However, to do the mileage that I need to do for a marathon swim, I have to do long workouts on my own on the days between Masters workouts.

Masters Swimming Ontario has kindly posted my flyer on their website. http://www.mastersswimmingontario.ca/marilyn-korzekwa-to-swim-the-cook-strait-new-zealand/

22 more workouts in the pool before we leave for New Zealand...

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