My friend Kathleen and I were in Singapore at the same time, so it somehow made sense for both of us to do an open water swim event. She swam the full 4K while I opted for an 800m swim.
Singapore Swim Stars open water swimView of the Singapore Gran Prix trackInside Shanghai’s Oriental Pearl TowerDoing the jump at the Oriental Pearl Tower
At the end of the trip, my colleague Judith and I opted to take the bullet train from Shanghai to Beijing. We spent most of our time shopping, but we did manage to squeeze in a trip to the Badaling Great Wall and the Ming Tombs.
Sometimes in life, you’re fortunate enough to meet an incredible group of people who believe that all goals, no matter how difficult, are achievable. This past Friday, my friend Katy Dooley met her goal of swimming across the 21-mile Catalina Channel in 9 hours, 49 minutes and 4 seconds.
Here are some photos of Katy and crew on her adventure:
Katy, before her swimVegas, MVP crew member, who stayed up the entire night coordinating Katy’s feed and kayakers.Mel, grease coater and tweeter.Alisa, a last minute addition. We were so happy the captain let her on the boat.David. Veteran channel crosser who came with his daughter on the boat. He knew just how and when to motivate Katy to get her in under 10 hours.Neil. Official observer who devised a great feeding system.Thomas, kayaker extraordinaire.Katy with Kevin, another kayaker
Katy’s swim started off in rough waters for the first five hours, but the seas calmed down as the light came out. She was swam consistently throughout and picked up her pace towards the end. As she was coming out, the surge picked her up and pushed her onto the rocks nearly 90 feet away. She’s a bit battered and scraped, but she finished!