Marilyn's 2016 Swims: Philip Rush

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/

Friday, 5 February 2016

Philip Rush

Philip Rush is the man who organizes and runs the swims across the Cook Strait. He is a swimming legend. He still holds the record (from 1987) for the fastest triple crossing of the English Channel. He was the first and is still the fastest to do a double crossing of the Cook Strait. The swims and the cabin cruiser boat, the Tangeroa, are based in Wellington, New Zealand. Other swimmers tell me that the Tangeroa captain and navigator are amazing. Philip and his fellow firefighter friend will be in the large inflatable beside me.
Philip has all the equipment and personnel organized, is an expert on the tides and weather, and says that all the swimmer has to do is show up. And he has selflessly organized and officiated 300 swims over about 30 years.
Since he only books 8 to 10 swimmers a year, I have had to wait since 2013 for my chance.
Yesterday he wrote to me that all I have to bring is "your swimming stuff like your food, togs (swimming outfit), goggles and caps". With regards to hypothermia and sharks, he says, "be assured we only have your best interests at heart."
He also writes, "we will give you our best shot to become the most mature female and the first Canadian."

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