Swimming Legend Hopes To Finish 22-Mile Course in 7 Hours, 11 Minutes

Having last braved the Hudson River in 1997 to win the Manhattan Marathon Swim, the Australian swimming legend Tammy van Wisse is today diving back into local waters.The Melbourne-born Ms. van Wisse, 37, is set to swim the 22 miles from Battery Park to Sandy Hook, N.J., a course only completed once before, in 1925, by the New Yorker Gertrude Ederle (1906-2003). Ederle went on to swim the English Channel in 1926 — a distance of 20 miles — at a time when only five men had successfully done the same.Ms. van Wisse was due to set off from Battery Park’s Gangway 1 at 7:15 this morning, and hopes to reach Sandy Hook within 7 hours, 11 minutes, the record time Ederle still holds. Along the way, Ms. van Wisse will have to defeat the tide, 6-foot waves, shipping channels, and some stomach-turning debris.Ederle made her mark as a female athlete conquering a male domain, and by retracing the strokes of her childhood heroine, Ms. van Wisse hopes to awaken Ederle’s winning spirit among New York women today.“When Gertrude Ederle attempted the English Channel swim, the Times of London had already written the story of her failure,” Ms. van Wisse said. “Then she smashed the record by two hours.”According to The New York Sun of August 7, 1926, Ederle’s successful Channel swim proved “conclusively that women have strength and endurance equal to men.” Surgeon General Dr. Hugh Cummings claimed the swim was “probably the most remarkable feat of human endurance in modern history.”Ederle’s mother told the Sun she had never doubted her daughter. “She said she was going to swim the Channel for me and I believed it.” Ederle’s father was also pleased, having put money on his daughter’s unsuccessful attempt the previous year: “I lost $5,000 on last year’s swim, but I got it back with good interest this year.”When Ederle tackled the Sandy Hook swim on June 16, 1925, she had been misinformed about the tides, and so faced an added struggle. However, the New York Times that day commended her “power and vim” and reported her “laughing and joking with her friends as she thrashed along brightly.”A sense of humor is also central to Ms. van Wisse’s ethos. “My crew reads me well during a swim,” she said. “If they see I’m having a hard time, they’ll make sure the jokes keep coming. It helps to have a chuckle, though not so much I swallow water.”Ms. van Wisse is no stranger to challenge. In 1999 she swam the 24-mile length of Loch Ness, when water temperatures ranged from 40 to 50 degrees.In 2001 she survived the length of Australia’s longest river, the Murray, a distance of 1,500 miles. Hypothermia, vomiting, and swollen tongue were just some the setbacks during the 106-day feat.Her greatest triumph to date remains her own English Channel crossing in 1993. “It’s such a huge sense of achievement, as Channel swims only have a 7% success rate,” she said. “More people have climbed Mount Everest than have swum the English Channel.”When Captain Matthew Webb became the first person to swim the English Channel in 1875, he was fuelled by beef tea and beer. For today’s swim, Ms. van Wisse’s choice is an energy drink administered to her at 20-minute intervals. “My support boat will hand me the drink in a cup at the end of a pole, a bit like feeding an animal at the zoo.”If Ms. van Wisse is truly to emulate her hero, the next step would have to be a celluloid version of her story. As well as touring the vaudeville circuit and having a song and dance step named for her, Ederle played herself in the 1927 movie, “Swim Girl, Swim.” Ms. van Wisse certainly hasn’t ruled out the possibility. “Why not? If Hollywood came a-knocking, I wouldn’t say no!”

Swimming Legend Hopes To Finish 22-Mile Course in 7 Hours, 11 Minutes

Swimming Legend Hopes To Finish 22-Mile Course in 7 Hours, 11 Minutes

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