By Vladimir Brezina
At the start of the 2012 Manhattan Island Marathon Swim
A contribution to this week’s Photo Challenge, Motion.
By Vladimir Brezina
At the start of the 2012 Manhattan Island Marathon Swim
A contribution to this week’s Photo Challenge, Motion.
By Vladimir Brezina
Ailsa’s travel-themed photo challenge this week is Clean.
Many are incredulous that the waters around Manhattan are clean enough to swim in.
But it’s true.*
These are photos from the last three years of the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim, a world-class, 28.5-mile swim around Manhattan, organized by NYC Swim every June or July. (Stories and more photos are here, here, and here.) This year on June 14, June 28, and July 12!
*Of course, you should still probably get your shots first ;-)
By Vladimir Brezina
Each summer, NYC Swim organizes a series of shorter and longer swims in New York City’s waterways. The premier event is the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim (MIMS), a 28.5-mile race around Manhattan. Along with the English Channel and Catalina Channel swims, it is one of the three swims in the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming.
Each swimmer is accompanied by a kayaker (as well as a motor boat). So on Saturday a week ago, I kayaked around Manhattan with swimmer Katy Dooley. Katy already knew all about swimming around Manhattan, having swum in MIMS in 2011 as well as 2012—but in both cases as part of a relay. This was going to be her first solo round-Manhattan swim.
This year’s MIMS turned out to be interesting, to say the least. Due to a cascading series of problems, some traceable all the way back to last year’s Hurricane Sandy, others to the unseasonably cold water, and still others to the heavy rains in the previous couple of days, only 11 of the 39 solo swimmers completed the entire swim unassisted.
But Katy was one of them! She powered through, finishing 5th (and 2nd woman) in 7 hours, 44 minutes. And by completing her swim around Manhattan, she became only the 69th swimmer to join the elite club of Triple Crown open water swimmers. A major accomplishment on a very difficult day—and inspiring to watch from close up!
I’ll write more about the swim in a future post. (My writeups of MIMS 2011 and 2012 are here and here.) But in the meantime, here are some of the photographic highlights of MIMS 2013.
Posted in Kayaking, New York City, Sports
Tagged Kayaking, Long-Distance Swim, Manhattan, Manhattan Island Marathon Swim, MIMS, New York City, New York Harbor, NYC Swim, Photography
The World’s Toughest Endurance Challenges
Richard Hoad and Paul Moore
Bloomsbury Publishing
London, 2012
.
From the description of the book on Amazon:
“The World’s Toughest Endurance Challenges” profiles 50 of the most extreme marathons, triathlons, bike rides, adventure races, climbs, open-water swims and other iconic endurance events from around the world. Breathtaking full-color photographs and insider commentary from top athletes will thrill endurance athletes, extreme sports addicts, and outdoor adventurers of all stripes.
Posted in Book Reviews, Sports, Travel
Tagged Adventure, Book Review, Canoeing, Cycling, Endurance Races, Ironman, Kayaking, Manhattan Island Marathon Swim, Marathon, Photography, Running, Sailing, Sports, Swimming, Triathlon
By Vladimir Brezina
Ailsa’s travel-themed photo challenge this week is Liquid.
Our favorite liquid, liquid:
Not liquid:
Posted in Nature, Photography, Sports
Tagged Kayak, Liquid, Manhattan Island Marathon Swim, Open-Water Swim, Photography, postaday, postaweek, postaweek2012, Sport, Surfing, Weekly Photo Challenge
By Vladimir Brezina
This week’s Photo Challenge is Near and Far.
Every year I accompany in my kayak the swimmers that circle Manhattan in the annual Manhattan Island Marathon Swim. During this 7- or 8-hour-long race, I have plenty of opportunity to pair in my photos the swimmer in the foreground, just a few feet from my kayak, with various New York City landmarks in the distance.
And there is a particular spot in the Hudson River, with just a few miles left to go, where the landmark is the Empire State Building. I never fail to take a photo there! Here are the photos from three different years.
More photos are here, here, and here.
A second response to the challenge is here.
By Vladimir Brezina
(Title suggestion by Johna Till Johnson)
Each summer, NYC Swim organizes a series of short and longer swims in New York City’s waterways. The premier event is the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim (MIMS), a 28.5-mile race around Manhattan. Along with the English Channel and Catalina Channel swims, it is one of the three swims in the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming.
Each swimmer is accompanied by a kayaker (as well as a motor boat). Last year, I kayaked for the Lone Starlettes, four women from Texas swimming as a relay. And two of the Starlettes, Gretchen Sanders and Pamela LeBlanc, must have had a good time, because they wanted to return this year and repeat the experience as a two-person relay, The Texas Two-Step.
Posted in Kayaking, New York City, Sports
Tagged Kayaking, Long-Distance Swim, Manhattan, Manhattan Island Marathon Swim, MIMS, New York City, New York Harbor, NYC Swim, Photography
By Vladimir Brezina
When people say incredulously “OMG, you kayak in THAT water? And you just went all the way around Manhattan??”, I often reply, “People SWIM in that water… all the way around Manhattan!!”
(Clearly, I might have to rethink this reply, although not the sentiment, after this summer’s sewage disaster…)
Each year, NYC Swim puts thousands of swimmers into that water for a series of short and longer swims in New York City’s waterways. Their premier event each summer is the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim (MIMS), a 28.5-mile race around Manhattan. Along with the English Channel and Catalina Channel swims, it is one of the three swims in the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming.
The Lone Starlettes scoping out the Battery from the land side beforehand: (left to right) Pam LeBlanc, Katy Dooley, Leslie Blanke, Gretchen Sanders
In this year’s MIMS, on June 18, 2011, I was the kayaker for a relay team, the Lone Starlettes (no prizes for guessing which state they are from ): Katy Dooley, Gretchen Sanders, Pam LeBlanc, and Leslie Blanke. Here’s how it went…