but back to the swim, which jeff organized and dubbed the p-to-p swim. for most of his life, he’s lived close to the ottawa river. “i’ve travelled the world,” he said, “but this is my favourite river.”
an orléans resident since 1989, he’s long lamented that, apart from at only a few small, discrete spots — britannia, westboro and petrie island beaches, and just recently the ncc river house — very little of the ottawa river is used by swimmers. “lots of boat traffic, lots of people fishing. stuff like that. but not a lot of swimmers, and it’s such a swimmable river.”
he began swimming a 1.8-km stretch of the river from green’s creek a few years back, eventually expanding that to the 7.3-km trip to petrie island. when he suggested sunday’s relay, his swimming neighbours all quickly agreed to take part, although perhaps with varying degrees of enthusiasm.
schwartz-smith, for example, is not fond of open swimming, preferring instead the predictability of pools. “i don’t want to see the bottom, and i don’t want to not see the bottom,” she said, describing the angst she goes through when swimming in rivers and lakes. “and there are no walls!”
on sunday, aug. 11, 2024, a dynamic team of elite swimmers took on an exhilarating challenge, powering through a thrilling 20.7-km swim from parliament hill all the way to petrie island.
ashley fraser
/
postmedia
her daughter shares a similar apprehension. when gen, in the normal course of conversation, asked the group how many of them had almost drowned at some point in their swimming careers (three, fyi, including gen), addi replied, “i’m about to drown!” before asking, “there are no sharks, right?”