This weekend I will be traveling to Florida to participate in the Tampa Bay Marathon Swim! Since swimming the event in 2010, it has become an annual trip for me, and I love helping anyway I can with the race. I will be crewing/swimming for Sarah Thomas, a friend of mine from outside Denver, Colorado. Sarah has completed MIMS and the Catalina Channel, and is using the Tampa Bay swim as a great warm-up for the English Channel this summer! I am very excited to crew, as it is just as much fun to help others complete their journey, as swimming a channel yourself!
This event has been going on since 1998, and began with a dream of Ron Collins (English Channel, MIMS) to swim the length of Tampa Bay. The 24-mile race starts at the Sunshine Skyway Bridge and ends on the Courtney Campbell Causeway in Tampa, in a race that covers the entire length of Tampa Bay. The event is held each year to celebrate Earth Day and the revitalization of Florida’s largest estuary. This is the longest race that is sanctioned by United States Masters Swimming.
I cannot believe it has been 2 years since meeting Kim Plewa, Michelle Roth Nelson, Craig Lenning, Ron Collins and David Barra! Such great memories…Stay tuned to my Facebook pagewith updates of the swim, as well as some great open water pictures!