CALL FOR NOMINATIONS - 2015 Barra Award for Best Overall Year
evmo
SydneyAdmin
It's that time again! We're pleased to announce the Fourth Annual Global Marathon Swimming Awards, the only peer-nominated, peer-voted awards for the sport of marathon swimming.
Please submit your nominations for the Barra Award, by commenting on this thread. To submit a private nomination, please contact us.
This award is intended to honor the marathon swimmer (one male, one female) with the most impressive body of work in 2015, considered as a whole. In your nominations, please list the swimmer's marathon swimming-related achievements in 2015. Not limited to solo marathon swims - could include relays, stage swims, organized races, community-building, leadership, "ambassadorship," etc.
In your nominations, please explain why the individual deserves the nomination.
Finalists will be selected on the basis of community support, as measured by "Likes." So, if you agree with a nomination and want to "second" it, click the "Like" button on that nomination. Nominations will remain open for approximately three weeks.
Previous years' finalists for the Barra Award (winners indicated in bold):
2012
- David Barra
- Darren Miller
- Anna-Carin Nordin
- Stephen Redmond
- Grace van der Byl
2013 - female
- Anna Wardley
- Anna-Carin Nordin
- Kimberley Chambers
- Sarah Thomas
2013 - male
- Darren Miller
- John Walker
- Mo Siegel
2014 - female
- Emma France
- Elaine Howley
- Charlotte Samuels
2014 - male
- Anthony McCarley
- Rohan More
- Mo Siegel
Comments
To start the ball rolling I'd like to nominate Mark Sheridan. This year he has successfully completed SCAR, Catalina and his 2nd English Channel solo. I have the greatest respect for Mark and his attitude to his swims. He's such a positive, encouraging person who also finds time to volunteer for BLDSA and run events for them. How he finds the time to do everything he does is a mystery.
Andrew Malinak- for his Summer of Bert Thomas Swims, (Tacoma to Seattle, circumnavigating Bainbridge Island & crossing the Strait of Juan de Fuca), getting NOWSA off the ground and crewing on other Awesome People's epic swims. If I was to invent an energy drink, I'd name it after him.
It's always a bad hair day when you work at a pool.
Jamie Monahan - Lake Geneva, END-WET, Pitonof, Antarctica Ice Mile (ok, not a marathon swim, but still...), maybe other things, but I will check with her and update if there are more.
-LBJ
“Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.” - Oscar Wilde
Zoe Sadler
Round Jersey,
1 Way Windermere followed by medical operation the very next day, Jubilee river 10K, Bala 2way, CofC 9 miles , Dorney 10K twice, Colwick Park 5K, officiating at swim galas, announcing at swim galas, observer, and even medals in the pool.
She has yet again had an outstanding if challenging year. She has our vote that's for sure
@Wendyv34 beat me to it! Andrew is my choice for the men's Barra Award. Not only did he manage to complete three epic, cold swims that revived historic routes and local interest in the sport, but he also found time to come to Scotland with us to observe my Loch Ness swim. And lord knows I wouldn't have been able to complete that swim without him. I second the motion to invent an energy drink based on whatever Andrew's secret sauce is. He's an unstoppable force to be reckoned with and a true champion of marathon swimming.
Stop me if you've heard this one...
A grasshopper walks into a bar...
https://elainekhowley.com/
I believe Jaimie was the first woman to cross Lake Geneva- and it's something like 42 miles long. An incredible swim, especially when added with all of her other swimming. Plus, she's just a super nice person.
I know we're supposed to "like" previous nominations to add our support, but I felt an urge to add a little more!
I'd also like to nominate @ssthomas Sarah Thomas for the women's Barra Award. She had a hellova season this year once again. In 2015, she kicked things off by being a member of a 4-person team at Suzie Dods' fabulous 24-hour relay in SF in February. In June, she won the 36-mile END-WET race and in July, became the first non-wetsuited person to swim the 28-mile length of Flathead Lake in Montana, which she did with Craig Lenning. August was a busy month in which she completed the 30K 3-Rivers Swim in Pittsburgh and a couple weeks later became the second American to swim the 22.2-mile length of Loch Ness, setting the standard for women's non-wetsuit swims with her time of 10 hours 52 minutes. She extended her swim season to last week, which in Colorado means an ice mile. Although not a marathon swim, that lickety-split mile made an impressive coda to an outstanding season. I'm sure I'm forgetting some of the various other odds and ends swims she did this year as well, but suffice to say, she's been very busy tackling some really big swims. Well done, Sarah!
Stop me if you've heard this one...
A grasshopper walks into a bar...
https://elainekhowley.com/
I'd like to nominate Bridgette Hobart - SCAR, the 8 Bridges, then all of the NY Finger Lakes, including 2 that are 38 miles long. Amazing.
There are a lot of incredible swimmers to nominate, but I have to jump on the Jaime Monahan bandwagon. That swim across Lake Geneva was one of those rare FIRSTS and was a 30+ hour swim in a cold freshwater lake! She had an incredible year of swims and is one of the most enthusiastic marathon swimming supporters I know.
Molly Nance, Lincoln, Nebraska
Bridgette's awesome season started with Rottnest.
...anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
Andrew also spent some time with us on the Hudson as a volunteer for 8 Bridges.
...anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
With huge respect to Jaimie (and I absolutely endorse the nomination), it should be noted in the interest of accuracy that the Lake Geneva Swimming Association lists Vedika Bolliger as the first woman to swim across Lake Geneva, back in 1999:
http://www.lakegenevaswimmingassociation.com/list-of-legends
I believe it was initially reported that Jaimie was the first, hence the confusion. I will confirm with the LGSA -- I'm assuming they discovered the earlier swim after-the-fact.
This is correct! Vedika's awesome swim was super under the radar and wasn't searchable until someone on her team reached out to WOWSA/LGSA about a month after my swim. LGSA did a lot of due diligence beforehand and I know they sincerely thought the comments were correct at the time.
They have corrected most of the places I've seen the incorrect info shared, and their website now has an awesome page including photos and a race report for Vedika. Super interesting read if you have a few minutes - she took 10 hours more to do a similar course which included her crew losing her for over 2 hours in the fog and waves and feeding primarily on peppermint tea!
A quick clarification for my nomination of Bridgette Hobart - I had put that she'd done SCAR this year, when in fact that was 2014; but she did do Rottnest in 2015 (as @david_barra noted). This was my error...but it's still no less impressive.
Also, it's been pointed out that Bridgette didn't complete the 8 Bridges; instead, she completed the full 120-mile distance, with a DNF for Stage 2. I didn't mean to suggest that she was one of the four swimmers who have completed every stage in one go - more that she 'did' the whole event in a year when she did an awful lot of doing (if you see what I mean).
So my imprecision notwithstanding, an impressive year.
Ahem...in the interests of shameless self-promotion and self-aggrandizement (after all, why should marathon swimming lag behind the Republican presidential race?) I'd like to let the world at large and the MSF community in particular know that I quietly completed a 185+ mile marathon swim season, including a couple of notable swim accomplishments ...and now I'll just point your towards my openwaterpedia page ... http://openwaterpedia.com/index.php?title=Mo_Siegel ... and wait for the phone to start ringing!
I think this category would be remiss without a mention of Craig Lenning's ( @uss_lenning ) season. He's quiet about his swims, but year after year, he does some great things.
He started his year off by attending Suzie's 24 Hour Relay, where he was part of a four person relay, swimming 3 x 2 hour shifts in the chilly waters of Aquatic Park. He then attended the first international ice swimming championships in Russia, where he swam the 1000 meters (and a few other short distances, for fun).
In June, he completed the length of Lake Memphremagog in Vermont/Canada. Interestingly, it was his third visit to The Kingdom to take a crack at Memphre. Craig's first attempt was during 2014's In Search of Memphre. Unfortunately, the race was cancelled due to weather. Not to be deterred, Craig went back a few weeks later for a second attempt, but pulled himself after getting really sick with a few miles left to go. And in the true spirit of getting it done, Craig returned in June 2015 for his third attempt, where he was successful.
Then, about 1.5 weeks later, Craig swam across the 28 miles of Flathead Lake in Montana. He and I swam together, making us the first male and female non-wetsuit swimmers to cross the lake. We suffered through record high air temperatures, poor air quality due to nearby fires, and water around 80 degrees- really hot for an ice swimmer like Craig.
On August 1, Craig attempted a Tahoe Triple. Unfortunately, Craig's boat broke down during his first length and he pulled himself out of safety concerns. It was a heartbreaking DNF because of all of the training and work that was put into the swim. There's no doubt in my mind that he would have succeeded if the boat hadn't let him down.
And, finally, Craig swam the length of Loch Ness in August, becoming the first American male to do so (fourth American overall).
In addition to all of his own swimming, Craig still found time to help and support many other swimmers throughout the season, for which he was nominated over on the Service to Marathon Swimmers nomination page.
The combination of swimming and supporting makes Craig a worthy nominee for this year's Barra Award.
Don't forget to mention @uss_lenning's other mid-summer displays of amazingness...http://andrewswims.com/inadequate/
I don't wear a wetsuit; it gives the ocean a sporting chance.
@malinaka: How on earth did I miss that blog? Truth: Craig's calves are amazing. He even has a calf within a calf. I should revise my original nomination...
I nominate Chloe McCardel.
Chloe had a busy and monumental year of swimming and coaching.
Three EC crossings in 6 days. A new record.
for her successful
And these were training swims
Triple EC a couple months later.
The first successful Triple EC in 25 years.
She also coached 4 school aged kids EC relays, 3 adult EC relays, and 3 solo EC swimmers.
As well, she coached Grant Wentworth and flew over from England (in between her 3 "training" swims and her Triple!) to crew support for his Cape Cod to Nantucket solo (a "First") in July.
Chloe is a great ambassador of our sport. She exemplifies the heart and soul of marathon swimming, both with her amazing training and swims as well as with her coaching and helping others to achieve their goals and aspirations.
If Katie hadn't got in so quickly I too was going to nominate Mark. He has had a great year of swimming achievements himself - including being on the 5.50am train to work the morning after his second EC crossing! But it's also the time he puts into encouraging and supporting others to get involved in marathon swimming. He is a real asset to our sport. Well done on a fantastic year, Mark.