The Great Big Swim Is On Stage 4
The Great Big Swim Is On Stage 4
Courtesy of Susan Simmons, Salish Sea, Vancouver, Canada.
Spirit Orcas is a group of eight swimmers with intellectual disabilities who are embarking on an unprecedented 80 km stage swim along the shores of Salish Sea.
Together with Susan Simmons and Jasmine Kremer, they have embarked on an 8-week 80 km stage swim that started on July 1st, Canada Day.
The Great Big Swim is being attempted to raise funds for COVID Relief. The swimmers will swim every Saturday or Sunday between July 1st and August 31st. Simmons explains, “We will enter the water of the Salish Sea and do a 10 km coastal swim per stage from Brentwood Bay to Esquimalt Lagoon each Saturday or Sunday between July 1st and August 31st.
The Great Big Swim supports the Victoria Foundation’s Vital Victoria Fund which aims to help local charities endure the effects of the global pandemic. To make a donation towards the Vital Victoria Fund, visit here.”
To follow the Spirit Orcas via a Spot tracker, visit susansimmons.ca.
They have already completed 3 stages with Stage 4 currently underway today with Simmons, Kremer and the Spirit Orcas members Cheyenne Furlong Goos (nicknames Chey or Cheybee), Meliah Motchman (nickname Madame Butterfly), Maria Sharock (nickname Pizza), Aly White (nickname Flipper), Dixon McGowan (nickname Dixonator), Drew Sabourin (Drewsie), Ben Vanlierop (nickname Benny), and Lidia White (nickname Lidster).
Canadian swimmer and coach Susan Simmons talked about dealing with her MS (Multiple sclerosis) and swimming in cold water on last month’s WOWSA Live program (see below).
The 55-year-old former competitive pool swimmer made the transition to longer, colder marathon swims with a special focus on pioneering unprecedented swim in her local lakes and straits in and near Vancouver.
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Southern California native, born 1962, is the creator of the WOWSA Awards, Oceans Seven, Openwaterpedia, Citrus Corps, World Open Water Swimming Association, Daily News of Open Water Swimming, Global Open Water Swimming Conference. He is Chief Executive Officer of KAATSU Global and KAATSU Research Institute. Inductee in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Swimmer, Class of 2001) and Ice Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Contributor – Media, Class of 2019), recipient of the International Swimming Hall of Fame’s Poseidon Award (2016), International Swimming Hall of Fame’s Irving Davids-Captain Roger Wheeler Memorial Award (2010), USA Swimming’s Glen S. Hummer Award (2007, 2010) and Harvard University’s John B. Imrie Award (1984). Served on the FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee and as Technical Delegate with the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games, and 9-time USA Swimming coaching staff.