Manhattan Island Marathon Swim (or MIMS as
it is known for short) is an annual race for marathon swimmers covering a 46km
counter clockwise circumnavigation of the island. To qualify for this race, you
must have completed an English Channel or Catalina Channel crossing within the
last two years or something of similar difficulty. Entry is by acceptance of
application and a small select field (40) is taken. Applications for June 2013 filled well over
the fifty mark within the first 20 minutes of registrations opening.
MIMS, whilst being the longest marathon
swim in the world, was not in my opinion touted as the hardest of the swims. In fact to me,
MIMS was ‘the guaranteed’. The hardest part about this race was getting a spot,
the next hardest was getting back into training after a successful Channel swim
and then backing up to do it all again.
How wrong I was going to be.
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| View from the the Rockefeller Centre |
This race was definitely a challenge for me
personally, but the thing that excited me most as I met up with my fellow friends/competitors
in New York in the days before the race, was we would all be celebrating
together post race on Saturday night. This is something that just isn’t
possible with Channel swims where only 30% succeed. Week on week during Channel
season dreams are achieved and lost as some swimmers make it and some don’t. For
this swim, the thing I was really looking forward to was everyone being successful
because the heartbreak of watching people you care about miss out on their
dream sucks. Every distance swimmer knows how much it takes to achieve these
marathon swimming goals: the dedication to training, balancing work, life,
family, friends, diet, keeping your body healthy, happy and being able to do
this week on week, month on month until race day, and then to have the ability
to break through the walls of pain on the day on top of everything else, well
it takes a certain type of crazy person to revel in this. Being one of those
crazies, it is a nice feeling to know that all those who have qualified should
be able to complete the swim in the allowed 9.5 hour timeframe, and that we
would be out there together in the same conditions on the same day.
Arriving in New York, I was excited! I
walked into the apartment my family had rented to be greeted with a “SURPRISE”
from my sister who had flown in from Sydney, joining my parents and my brother
Mark from Hong Kong as my support crew for the week. I was impressed, amazed,
gob-smacked. I actually live with my sister and never even realized she was
going to come – she had cited firm work commitments would render it impossible!
Not only that, she had arrived in NYC five days before me, and despite bumping
into numerous Sydney people during her stay, not a single one had let it slip
on Facebook. It was a huge surprise! So armed with my entire family yet again,
I was ready to take on Manhattan.
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| Training with fellow MIMS swimmers at Brighton Beach |
The week leading up the race consisted of a
daily swim at either the New York Athletic Club or venturing down to the
freezing cold Brighton Beach, training my arms with retail therapy, eating the
most insanely delicious food (New York knows how to do food) and doing the
required site seeing. We had a ball! I’m sure it goes to say that New York is a
much better venue than Dover for a pre-swim time kill!
Forecasts for race day were not looking
favorable in the lead up. Water temps were slow to warm up and it appeared that
this would be the coldest water temperature in the history of the race. We all
started freaking a few days before the swim, suddenly realizing that this swim
would be comparable to our Channel swims, and with less cold water training and
less Channel weight than last year, this would be a challenge. Thankfully my
eight-hour swim in Melbourne five weeks earlier in 15 degrees C gave me, and
fellow training mate Lochie Hinds, quite a bit of mental courage.
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| Statue of Liberty |
In New York one of the best race
preparations I did was take a three-hour boat cruise around Manhattan Island
three days before the race. This fantastic cruise gave us a full view of the
course the whole way around as well as some great historical stories to go with
it. My crew later said it was a key part to the actual race as they were always
prepared with what was coming.
There were also some other pre-race issues to
deal with. The organisers had accepted a record number of swimmers this year –
40 solos and 3 duos, which meant they required 43 support boats, but
unfortunately due to Cyclone Sandy last year, many boats had been damaged and
were not ready to use for race day. Further a number of boats that had locked-in,
withdrew in race week as they realized they wouldn’t be operational in time.
Swimmers were asked to pair with other swimmers and share a boat where possible,
and more observers were sought. They also changed the start and finish point of
the race due to damage from Sandy to the Pier we would normally start. As a
result, our start/finish position was moved down the Hudson River meaning
slightly different race tactics.
The last issue we had to contend with was
the massive storm that hit New York for the 24 hours before race day. The
rainfall was huge – you couldn’t walk outside without being drenched and the
rain just didn’t let up. It was still pouring as I went to sleep the night
before. As a result of all this rain water temps were very low on race morning
and the tidal flow which is usually very strong at the start, had been substantially
mitigated. There had also been a sewage leak at Ward Island and the New York
Sanitation Dept was threatening to cancel the race on race morning. Thankfully,
I didn’t know this prior to the race, but it would explain why I was hit with a
very unpleasant stomach bug 24 hours after the race.
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| The Gorman family pre-race |
Pre–race I felt good. I had had a good
build up to this race: Rottnest Channel in Feb 2013, followed by the four day
60km S.C.A.R swim extravaganza in Arizona in May, and then winning the South
Head Roughwater in Sydney just before I flew out to New York. It had been a
busy four months trying to balance everything, but I felt I was in good form and
would have a solid race, and I was so stoked to have my whole family here with
me in NYC while I did it.
The race briefing was like a big summer
camp reunion. So many friends were there whom I had made from the Channel last
year, S.C.A.R this year, Rotto, even London the week before the race. I have
been so fortunate with the amazing swimming people who have become my friends.
This is one of the things I love most about this sport – it’s intimate, it’s
special and inclusive and it’s full of the most passionate and dedicated
people.
Race day: Saturday June 8, 2013
Wide awake at 3:30am, ready for the day
ahead. Race day nerves can be so annoying some times! I spent 40 minutes lying
in bed, thinking about the day ahead, and going through how I would pass
through each wall of pain I would encounter. Sometimes knowing the challenge
ahead is not always a good thing and I did wonder how I would hold up mentally
when I hit the inevitable wall. I had been through this process a few times now
and sometimes it actually gets harder the more you do it! Support crews were due
at Pier 25 at 5am, so my ever-dutiful mum and dad headed out the door just
before 5am. Fifteen minutes later my brother Mark and sister Bel and I were in
a cab heading downtown.
Finally, covered in zinc, Vaseline and
wearing a new pair of Speedo’s with the Aussie flag across my chest, I boarded
the start vessel along with my fellow wave 3 starters and we headed down to
Pier A. Cheers from my brother, sister and pal Hugh Selleck were heard as we
arrived and my paddler Mike came and identified himself to me just before I
jumped into the water. Most people were relying on a local paddler whom they
had never met, myself included, and Mike turned up and we exchanged three
sentences before I hit the water. He said “Hi, I’m your paddler” I responded
with “Thanks so much! Appreciate the support. I feed every 30 minutes” His
response: “Great, what side do you breathe?” “Left” and that was it! They
called my start and we were in the water and 30 seconds later it was “go!”
I had done my
research prior to this race and read every blog out there, spoken to previous
swimmers and worked out that the biggest gap to be gained on the other swimmers
was in the first section of the East River, so the key was to go hard and get
as much distance on everyone else as possible in the first few hours. So hard I
went. I ended up the lead swimmer of my wave, and the fastest wave who left only
four minutes after me didn’t catch me until the Williamsburg Bridge, 55 minutes
after we started. I felt like I was flying. Two hours into the race, the wave
behind me who started only two minutes behind me, still hadn’t caught me. As we
passed Queensborough Bridge, the water temperatures moved up to 16C/60F.
The city skyline enthralled me. We were swimming very quickly with the
current. We only had minutes of seeing each building towering above us as we
swam along, my paddler Mike navigating a great course working the currents. We
passed the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building (one of my most
favourite buildings in all the world) and the United Nations and as I passed
Roosevelt Island and headed up towards Hell’s Gate, I marvelled at how unique
this view of the city was.
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| The field ahead |
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| The Empire State Building |
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| The United Nations |
The time for marvelling was cut short, as I
reached Hell’s Gate I noticed the water had gone slack and there was a slight
current against me. Over the next few hundred metres this quickly built against
me and I head Dad yell “Tides turning!” Suddenly I was having flashbacks to
last years Channel swim, and I knew then it was time to crank up my pace to
push through the current. I noticed four NYPD police boats all surrounding the
boats and swimmers behind me who were approximately 150m from me at that point.
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| Beautiful conditions just before Hell's Gate |
What I didn’t realize was that the
conditions had gone from relatively flat water to rapids against the swimmers
in a matter of minutes. My brother and sister were standing on land cheering me
on and watching the chaos that suddenly occurred as paddlers were swept
backwards and the officials started making the calls on the radio to the NYPD
to pull the swimmers. Nothing was coming through to my crew, but they could see
what was happening and urged me forward knowing that I was on the edge of the
tide and needed to break through it. According to my GPS I literally did not
move forward for 6 minutes, swimming on the spot.
Slowly I crept forward, gaining ground and
focusing on reaching Ward’s Island Bridge and the swimmer ahead of me. I
stopped for a feed break and realized the current was still against me so we
skipped it and pushed on to break at the bridge instead. I saw the boats that
had been behind me driving past. I figured the swimmers must have been pulled
out and were being dropped off ahead. Mike confirmed this was the situation. I
stepped up the gas for the last slog to break through the tide. Finally, I was through
it and swam under Ward’s Island Bridge. I had gone from eight-minute kms to a
33 minute km. It had been tough, but I had made it. I would later find out it
was by a mere one hundred and fifty metres because if I had I had been back
with the rest of the pack I would have been thwarted by the tide with everyone
else, with no chance to break through the rapids that suddenly appeared as the
waters from Hell Gate sucked south down the East River to the Hudson.
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| The tide turns: Paddlers battling to get through the currents at Hell's Gate |
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| Ward's Island Bridge - through the tide turn |
At this point I overtook fellow Aussie
swimmer Tim Donovan who had had a tough slog with me in the current and we headed
up the Harlem River. What I didn’t realize at this point was that every other
swimmer who had been behind me, (25 in total) and boat assisted up the river, was
no longer officially in the race, and I suddenly found myself very much alone
in the river. We were only three hours into the race, and I would have six more
hours swimming alone for the rest of the race seeing only one other swimmer just
before I swam out into the Hudson River at Spuyten Duyvil.
As we headed up the Harlem River, we passed
under bridge after bridge (14 in total) and I enjoyed the different designs and
architecture as I swam under them, often rolling onto my back and doing a
couple of arms of backstroke to take in the bridges full majesty. As I swam up
the Harlem River, the water became filthy. For an hour and a half I dodged
plastic bags, an empty syringe, rubbish, dead birds and even got hit in the head with a condom! It
was putrid and there was no escape. I was definitely keen to not have to do
that section of the swim again. My boat crew tried to find the clear sections
of water and my paddler Mike said I should have seen some of the things he was
flicking out of my way. I am very glad that I didn’t. When I told him about the
condom, he said: “We call them Harlem White Fish” – you have the love the
American humour!
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| Syringe, condom and other rubbish I had to swim through in the Harlem River |
Finally, six hours after the start, the
very long and lonely Harlem River was over as I arrived at Spuyten Duyvil,
passed fellow swimmer Ellery McGowan whom I had a quick chat to, and headed out
into the Hudson River.
Wow, what a change that was. The relatively
peaceful albeit dirty river turned to highly turbulent waters and suddenly the
water went from being extremely salty to very brackish. It was a welcome relief
for my mouth, which swells from the salt water during long races. I used
Listerine to combat the swelling throughout the race but the brackish water was
far nicer. The water also seemed to rise a degree in temperature, which was
also very welcome, as the sun seemed to have disappeared behind the clouds at
this point.
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| Mark and Bel - best siblings in the world |
For the next 14 kilometres, I swam an
average of 7-8 minutes per kilometer. I was flying with the current down the
Hudson but battling the rough and bouncy wind-against-tide waters. A lot of the
Hudson ended up in my tummy. At various points my brother and sister in their
matching shirts would pop up on the shore cheering me along. It was like playing a game of "Where's Wally" seeing where they would pop up. I found the last
section quite difficult mentally – I knew I had a good 2.5 hours of swimming to
go and I was pretty lonely in the water, and getting cold. Onwards I swam,
under George Washington Bridge, passing by the Sailors and Soldiers Memorial,
and the USS Intrepid aircraft carrier. At this point I was stopped by a ferry
coming into the wharf and had to wait for it to pass before continuing my swim.
For the last five kms the current eased and I slowed down. The views as I
approached the Financial District were amazing. This was what I call the “money
shot” – an iconic photo to remember the swim by. I passed by piers and saw
friends waving on the end, and as I got closer to the finish, I heard my name
being cheered and yelled. My New York friends had all turned up for the finish!
Massive thanks to Hugh Selleck, Tom Christensen, Jacquie Purcell, Andrew and
Marliesha Bartop and baby Edie, Sally and James Bertouch and baby Sophie,
Camilla Crane, Pete Davies, and of course my incredible brother Mark and sister
Bel, who had followed me almost the whole way around Manhattan on foot.
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| The last 500m |
As I swam the last 500m the crowd on the
wall were all cheering, my friends were running and cycling alongside me and my
parents on the boat were waving. I finally rounded the corner at Pier A and saw
the finish buoy where I gave it a very solid slap to finish in 8 hours and 53
minutes, coming 10th overall. Official Results here.
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| The finish! 8 hours 53 minutes |
A swim like this is pretty iconic. Being
able to swim past icons like the Financial district, the Empire State Building,
the United Nations building, the Chrysler Building, Gracie Mansion where the
mayor is meant to live (Michael Bloomberg doesn’t as he prefers his own home),
the Yankee Stadium, the Pepsi Cola sign, Hell’s Gate Bridge which is a complete
mini replica of the Sydney Harbour Bridge by the same architect, just to name a
few, is a pretty spectacular way to “see” New York.
I was very relieved to have made it, but
devastated for those swimmers who got pulled. It seems ridiculous that only 11 of 42 swimmers finished. It was not what was meant to
happen, and it was devastating that we couldn’t all be celebrating our
achievement that night at the prize giving. The evening was full of mixed
emotions. Fellow Australians Paul Newsome and Ceinwen Williams took out first
male and female overall, and my swimming buddy Lochie Hinds was second male
overall. These results were definitely cause for celebration, but it was
bittersweet that not all ten Aussies were official finishers, especially when
they are all such great swimmers. For my international friends who came along with their entire families, it just doesn't seem fair. I cherish the time we got to spend together before the race, however, there is nothing that would entice me back in the filthy waters of New
York.
Three swimmers DNF'd and were taken
to hospital due to hypothermia including my buddy from S.C.A.R in Arizona and the
current Catalina Channel World Record holder Grace Van der Byl, and 10k FINA
World Cup swimmer Gustavo Helguera. It was the coldest MIMS on record by some
margin at officially just on 16.0ºC (60.8ºF), compared to 2012 which was 19.9ºC
(67.8ºF).
I must call out a massive thanks to my amazing support
crew whom were all allocated to me randomly by NYC swim: my boat captain Tony
and his wife Denise were so positive, smiling and happy and were totally
wonderful to my parents, my observer Tom who had flown in to volunteer for this
event and diligently took my stroke count and measured the water temperatures
throughout the race, as well as cheering and taking photos throughout, and my
paddler Mike, whom I found out has done this race five times previous to 2013
and is a super keen kayaker. Mike’s knowledge of reading the currents
definitely played a huge part in my success and his calm and patient attitude
kept me sane throughout. He also told me interesting facts about all the
buildings at every feed, and later when I found out he was a schoolteacher I
was not surprised!
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| My amazing support crew: Tom, Denise, Tony, Mum and Dad |
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| Observer Tom, Mum, Dad and I pre race |
To my family, having you all there as
I achieved this goal meant so much to me and I was so thrilled I could share
this with you all. We are nothing without our support crew, and my family not
only supported me on the day, but have supported these goals and ambitions for
the last three and a half years as I have picked crazy long swim goal after
crazy long swim goal. They are always there in some form, when I race in
Australia and my brother is in Hong Kong he always calls continuously
throughout the races and cheers for me from afar. My sister is always there on
the finish line to greet me, and my parents are always alongside me in the
support boat. The time and effort they put into ensuring I am prepared and that
I can achieve my dreams and that they steadfastly believe in me in something I
am so thankful for.
So, with seven marathon swim races in
this year alone, and 20 marathon swims races now complete since this hobby began 3.5 years ago, I am going to spend
the rest of this year enjoying life (before deciding what the next challenge
will be!)
Full course and splits available on the link to my tracker page above
Other blogs on MIMS 2013:
Carol Cashell: http://swimmersrock.com/2013/06/16/new-york-mims-2013/
Katy Dooley’s paddler: http://windagainstcurrent.com/2013/06/17/manhattan-island-marathon-swim-2013-photos/
Photos:
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| My 2012 Channel buddies: Tory Thorpe, Deidre Ward and myself |
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| Geoff Wilson and Ceinwen Williams from Perth |
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| My sister Bel and I |
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| Awesome jumper designed by mum |
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| Zincing up against the sun - not sure why my brother missed the section in the middle! |
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| Passing the Concord |
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| Freedom Tower |
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| The Financial District |
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| Bel and Mark on the Hudson |
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| Under one of the 20 bridges of the race |
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| Bel and Mark at Hell's Gate |
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| Tim Donovan and myself - the last two swimmers through Hell's Gate |
