Manhattan Island Marathon Swim 2012

evmo

MIMS weekend is upon us! A record 38 solo swimmers will jump at South Cove, in four waves, starting at 10:20am Eastern. At least 12 of the 38 are current Forum members (I may be missing some). They are indicated with asterisks in the list below, which is sorted by bib #:

Abby Nunn (Richmond VA)*
Tom Fristoe (Bend OR)
John Humenik (New York NY)
Emma Otto-Moudry (Ithaca NY)*
Darren Miller (Export PA)*
Javier Gutierrez (Marina del Rey CA)
Blair Cannon (San Diego CA)
Victoria Rian (Indianapolis IN)*
Nial Funchion (Chicago IL)
Fernando Garcia-Sotelo (San Antonio TX)
Patti Bauernfeind (Dublin CA)
Bo Stenhuus (Svendborg, Denmark)
Tina Neill (Laguna Beach, CA)
Kris Rutford (Lincoln NE)
Vanessa Hammond (London, England)
Bridgette Hobart (Lake Hopatcong NJ)
Daniel Fung (San Francisco CA)
Kent Nicholas (Mesa AZ)*
Roger Finch (Johannesburg, South Africa)
George Meenan (Derry, Northern Ireland)
Ciaran Byrne (Cork, Ireland)
William Lee (Man-O-War Cay, Abaco, Bahamas)
Bob Needham (Lake Oswego OR)*
Graeme Lowe (Jersey, United Kingdom)
Kevin Anderson (Long Beach CA)
Yuta Tsuboi (Tokyo & New York)*
Andrew Malinak (Brooklyn NY)
Krystal Daymonde (Naugatuck CT)
Jim Fitzpatrick (Laguna Niguel CA)*
Joni Young (Salem OR)
Abhejali Bernardova (Zlin, Czech Republic)
Donal Buckley (Carrick-on-Suir, Ireland)*
Genevieve Mackwood (Ottawa, Canada)*
Steve Faulkner (Barrie ON, Canada)
Dave Armento (Atlanta GA)
Courtney Paulk (Richmond VA)*
Thomas Kofler (Merano, Italy)*
Melissa Kretschmer (New York NY)

Good luck, everyone!

ChickenOSea

Good luck to the 3-person pursuit team, Slo-Mos!!!!!!!!!!

slowmo

I'm sure the Slo-Mos will motor around the Island in no time.

GenMack

Best of luck to all!

Sylle

Bonne chance to Ciaran and Donal! Good luck to everyone!

evmo

And they're off!

• GPS tracking
• Twitter updates by yours truly - http://twitter.com/nycswim

evmo

Abby Nunn ( @swimmergirl23 ) is leading MIMS by a quarter-mile in the Harlem. More at http://twitter.com/nycswim

evmo

According to NYC Swim, 100% of MIMS starters finished. Which is pretty incredible, given the typical probabilities in this sport.

I look forward to congratulating the rest of the individual members of the field as soon as full results are posted!

loneswimmer

I'ma bit surprised. It was tough & most people I talked to found the same. Utterly unaccectable pre-start conditions, a really nasty first hour to hour and a half depending on your speed, horrible Spuyten Divil, and horrible down the Hudson which had been predicted because of the late start and extra traffic.

rosemarymint

The last stretch down the Hudson was insane, watching from the boat, because of the wakes and waves. Swimmers were navigating 4-6 foot waves at times depending on which giant pleasure boat was speeding past them at that moment.

You guys were amazing to watch! Congrats to all who swam and volunteered. Rough day for all, I'm sure

evmo

Results now posted.

Sounds like they made you work for it this year, but still... 38/38 successes!

I'll have to crunch the numbers, but Steve Faulkner's 10:11 is one of the longest times-to-completion of the modern MIMS era (making a long day on the water for observer @david_barra). And the 2:41 gap between Abby and Steve may be the largest ever.

Congrats to (among others) @ForeverSwim and @Swimjim on their Triple Crowns, and to forum co-founder @Loneswimmer on being 1st-place Irishman.

loneswimmer

Hey @david_barra, would love to hear your impression of conditions given your experience on both sides and being used to reading water.

Btw, I had a great time meeting such great & famous swimmers, but I missed getting autographs from many like Abby.

heart

You guys are amazing! Well done!

david_barra

loneswimmer wrote:

Hey @david_barra, would love to hear your impression of conditions given your experience on both sides and being used to reading water.

The Hudson is typically bumpy in the afternoon... from wind and boat traffic. Some years see a dramatic change from the Harlem to Hudson. This year, it really didn't get bumpy until midtown. It looked like a good day for a swim... not the fastest, but a day that allows everyone to finish is awesome.

loneswimmer

The 1st hour felt horrible to me from bow chop from everywhere especially in lower east river and Spuyten Divel was a real grind. I came out under the railway bridge & all the held up boats came out after me, throwing wave after wave, lovely. How did they look?

david_barra

loneswimmer wrote:

The 1st hour felt horrible to me from bow chop from everywhere especially in lower east river and Spuyten Divel was a real grind. I came out under the railway bridge & all the held up boats came out after me, throwing wave after wave, lovely. How did they look?

Its a busy waterway. If it were easy to swim it, the race would be full of smart people.

david_barra

Photos from the Iceman: http://www.flickr.com/photos/48782408@N00/sets/72157630270189964/with/7435117850/

jcmalick

I thought the Hudson was very tame this year but agreed, midtown got a little dicier...in prior years the Hudson has always been bumpy so this was a welcome relief from a kayaker and swimmer perspective! Job well done to all swimmers, crew, volunteers, kayakers, safety vessels, and event staff!

bobswims

Maybe it was just where I was positioned but I swam through a stetch of 4 foot waves and many long stretches of 3 footers. Last year as an observer it was dead calm on the Hudson until well below the GW Bridge. On the other hand we then faced a nasty south wind that threw up some good sized waves from the upper Westside to the finish, but at least the wave periods were constant. In the upper Hudson it was completely inconsistent and very frustrating. I breathe bilaterally every third stroke and there were many times that was more like 5 or 6 strokes because my head was under water.

KNicholas

The swim had all the elements of a premier event: limited field from around the world, a location that provides historical landmarks throughout, water temperatures (low 70's) that aid in success, an incredible volunteer army of support, and a distance that makes most people shake their head and say, "really"? No wonder this swim is part of the Triple Crown. I am thrilled I participated. Thank you New York and NYC SWIM!

bobswims

I think it is a great event, but the swim along the Harlem was not to my "taste".