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Fastest Triple Crown by overall elapsed time
evmo
Sydneydev
Of the 142 swimmers who have completed the Triple Crown (list here), who do you think had the fastest overall time for the three swims? Sum of English Channel time, Catalina time, and Manhattan time. If the person has more than one swim for any of the events, take the fastest one.
I'm pretty sure the answer is not currently Google-able, or available on any W0WSA/DN0WS Inc. webpages - but if it is, please share it here. The list Steve unofficially maintains on Openwaterpedia (see above link) does not contain times or dates.
Let's have a contest! I will send a free MSF logo sticker to anyone who gets closest to naming the top 5 names one of the top 5 overall fastest TCs. Names only are fine - no need to actually brute-force look up the results. It's kinda more fun if you don't!
Footnote: @ollie Wilkinson recently announced his intention to swim Catalina in August. Along with his record 5:44 for Manhattan (on a special "Tide of the Century" match race in 2012) and solid 11:06 for the EC, he seems likely to put together a fairly spectacular overall time for the three. Hence my question about what record he might have a chance to break....
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If you think you know the answer, write it on the back of a 2017 Kawasaki Jet Ski Ultra 310R with a supercharged, intercooled, 4-stroke, inline 4-cylinder 1,498cc engine, 160mm axial-flow jet pump propulsion system, 18-position solid-mount handlebar, and sharp lime green and ebony trim and synthetic vinyl premium seat with accent stitching and mail it to "Puzzler Tower" at Car Talk Plaza, Box 3500 Harvard Square, Cambridge MA 02238.
I don't wear a wetsuit; it gives the ocean a sporting chance.
Is this too hard?
Let's do it this way: Free MSF logo sticker to anyone who names one of the top 5 fastest overall Triple Crowns.
Contest ends this Thursday, 11:59pm GMT.
Petar Stoychev?
Jim Barber 8:43 CC + 7:06 NYC + 9:06 EC = 24:55 TC
I don't wear a wetsuit; it gives the ocean a sporting chance.
Good guess! With a 6:57 English Channel and 6:28:23 for the Manhattan swim (in a match race on a fast tide in 2010), Stoychev is pretty unbeatable through two legs.
But he hasn't done Catalina yet!
Maybe once he reads this thread he will sign up for a California sprint
...anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
Javier Gutierrez
...anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
Michelle Macy? Alison Streeter?
Not me. With an 18.36 Catalina that purty much says it all. This is intriguing though!!
Mallory Mead?
...anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
Suzie, I'd be ecstatic to complete Catalina. Respect to you.
"The sea was angry that day....". George Costanza
...anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
@david_barra , I think it was more confused... but .. oh lord did I learn a lot.
Marcia Cleveland
Jaime Caballero.
@thelittlemerwookie, @malinaka, and @KatieBun earned themselves stickers for naming #1, #2, and #3 respectively. Well done!
Good guesses from @david_barra and @suziedods. I have Mallory at #9, Javier at #12 and Jaime at #14.
Two stickers left for anyone who can get #4 and #5
This was a record I was hoping to go for, but my back has derailed this so far. Marcia's Manhattan time is the key to the record. The only way to even get close to that time is to do a custom solo swim to take advantage of the currents and tides. Or, water-ski around Manhattan under the pseudonym "Diana N" and claim a fast time.
BTW, is there an archive for MIMS? I don't know what my times were for the races in 1998 and 2004.
I'll have to hold out for the longest time to get all three done. 2018 or 2024 will be 20 years from beginning to end (depending on which MIMS time is used.)
I'm silently lobbying for a "Grand Slam" using the Triple Crown and Tampa Bay. Very self serving for me.
Karen Burton (Reeder)? However, I don't think she ever did MIMS.
Jim McConica?
Nick Olmos?
Rendy Opdyke (sp?)
Marcos Diaz?
Lisa Hazen?
Kris Rutford?
David Blanke?
Peter Tanham?
Samir Barel?
@swimmer25k - no TC for Burton-Reeder, McConica, Hazen, Diaz.
Opdycke is top 10 but outside the top 5.
Blanke, Rutford, and Olmos a bit further down.
@mamiller - close! Barel is #6 and Tanham is #7 by my reckoning.
Dammit.
Marcia Cleveland mentions doing the above Manhattan time in this passage from her book Dover Solo. She doesn't refer to MIMS but since it was done in August of 1996 I have to suspect it was a MIMS swim.
http://www.doversolo.com/catalina.htm
@evmo thank you very much. I'd love to see the full list.
Nick Adams???
Chad Hundeby? Just a guess. Don't know if he did Manhattan. I'll shut up now. Sorry, just enjoying the game.
Paul ???
The guy for whom you( @evmo) crewed MIMS in 2013, the Aussie??
Chloe?
So... perhaps the most important factor in doing the "fastest Triple Crown" is... actually having done all three swims. Here's the list again of the 142 current TCers. Seems easier to check the list first, yes?
Paul Newsome - no Catalina. Chloe - no Catalina. Chad Hundeby - no MIMS.
Nick Adams is a good guess - he is in the top 20.
Marcia's 5:57 Manhattan swim was a one-off solo "record attempt" on a fast tide, not part of the annual race. She held the women's record (Kris Rutford held the men's at the time) until it was broken by Shelley Taylor-Smith, who held the overall record for many years until @Ollie and @Rondi's record attempt race in 2012.
I thought Chloe had done Catalina, sorry. I'm just glad I'm remembering names at this stage! I didn't google either of them. And please
give me some credit for knowing Jaime's FULL name 
.
This is a great game!
2/3 credit!
Spanish names are difficult.... his FULL name is Jaime Caballero Echeverría !!
Thanks! -- and thanks for playing. I think it's fun too.
I'm going with Penny Palfrey, if you add her 2015 CC crossing into the other numbers on Openwaterpedia you get under 26 hours
http://notdrowningswimming.com - open water adventures of a very ordinary swimmer
Ding ding ding ding!!!! Well done DC.
The interesting thing about this actually is it really all comes down to the EC time. The variance in CC and MIMS times for fast swimmers is pretty low, but EC times are all over the place for swimmers whose combined MIMS/CC times are otherwise similar.
http://notdrowningswimming.com - open water adventures of a very ordinary swimmer
There is another "fastest" calculation to be considered which is different from the total hours and seconds for the swims themselves. It is also an interesting metric to keep track of who was the fastest to complete the Triple Crown or the Oceans Seven from the date and time of starting the first swim in the set to the date and time of the last (adjusted for time zones). Anyone care to start tracking that as well?
Already done. Though I hadn't considered the time zone aspect.... good point! I'm guessing that level of precision will be nearly impossible - no time-of-day info in the Catalina and MIMS data.
Yep. Another source of variation is the MIMS record attempts, though there are relatively few. Credit to #2 Jim Barber for doing his Manhattan swim as part of the annual race.
GIVE US A HINT ALREADY!
...anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
OK FINE!
#5 is not a Forum member, but is known and beloved by many of us, especially East Coast Americans, and is among the most prolific AND currently active marathon swimmers.
Liz Fry!
...anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
DB got his sticker! Nicely done.
And that's a wrap! I will post the top 25 on Friday morning.
For the sticker winners, if I don't already have your address, I'll be contacting you soon!
Another morsel of marathon swimming trivia:
The record for ... I don't want to say "slowest" (most luxurious?) Triple Crown is held by Charlotte Samuels, with an epic 51 hours flat for the three (20:44 EC, 20:20 CC, 9:55 MIMS).
No one else is within 8 hours of this feat of endurance.
@evmo , I see a card game... Trivial Pursuit"ish" with all sorts of tidbits....
Charlotte is, I believe, 3rd on the list of Shortest elapsed time from first to third crowns.
...anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
For the record...
Wouldn't this list be better described as 25 fastest cumulative TCs?
...anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
I suppose one might also ask, Wouldn't the [finish day minus start day] version of this list be better described as the "shortest" TC, as it refers to a period/duration.
All three of Marcia Cleveland's TC swims (The English Channel, Manhattan Island, and Catalina) were custom swims, where she (in the case of Catalina with other swimmers too) organized a boat, a crew, and an independent observer. In the cases of The English Channel and Catalina, all the swims to my knowledge are custom swims. In the case of Manhattan Island, all of the very fast Manhattan times are custom swims, as the Manhattan Island Race tides were not geared for the fast swimmers. They are geared to the date of the event, the time of day, and the speed of the field. Finally, in the cases of Manhattan and Catalina, she also organized a kayaker (who probably owns the record for most TC kayaking assists!)
The "Fastest Triple Crown by total elapsed time" list has had a recent shake-up, with Australian wunderkind Benjamin Freeman rocketing to #2, overtaking Jim Barber for the fastest TC not on a special "fast record attempt tide" for Manhattan.
http://longswims.com/insights/triple-crown/
Other new top 10 entrants include #7 Ollie Wilkinson and #9 Shane Moraghan.
Should Ollie Wilkinson's time be measured on his first or 2nd Manhattan? Looks like you use their fastest time in each event up until the achieve the Triple Crown?
Yes, if a swimmer has done any of the swims more than once, the fastest time is used.