Swim Club Completes 1,209-Mile Virtual Alaskan Swim

June 11, 2018

By Wlodek Guryn

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The virtual swim participants. Front row, from left to right: Andrew Fox, Pete Heotis, Frank Donato, Ady Hershcovitch, Bryan Callaghan, John Gosman, Laura Loudenslager, Karen McNulty Walsh, Saehanseul Oh, Aihong Tang, Jason Farrel, Wlodek Guryn. Back row, left to right: Igor Zaliznyak, Athanasios Chantis, Richard Wagener, Tom Nehring, Charles Folz, Brian Heneveld, Robert Todd, John Sinsheimer, Theodore Sampieri. Not pictured: Richard Porqueddu, Alice Cialella, Robin Appel, Jerry Granzen, Andy Vogelmann, Ralf Seidl, Marc-Andre Pleier, Robert Retundi, Jeff Landgraf, Zilong Chang, Serban Protopopescu, Joseph Eng, Steve Campo, Vahid Ranjbar, Ron Weider, Chaofeng Mi, Greg Doerk, Joe Tuozzolo, Bob Scheetz, Winnie Yu, Ed Sierra, Vladimir Tishchenko, Yichao Tian, Mike Fulkerson.

The following article was guest-written by Wlodek Guryn of the Physics Department and president of the BERA Swim Club.

After swimming a total 1,209 miles, a team of 45 BNLers "arrived" in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, as they finished their 11th annual "virtual swim" on April 15. These swimmers are members of the Lab’s swim community. The Brookhaven Employee Recreation Association (BERA) Swim Club organizes a virtual swim each year—from January to April—in part, as a motivation to start a New Year with the healthy goal of swimming to improve fitness.

As in each of the last 10 years, the participants swam laps primarily in the pool in Bldg. 478, but the laps they swam at other pools where they exercise counted, too. The laps were added together and the distance plotted along the virtual route, which this year took us from where we ended in 2017—Brady Glacier, Alaska—west to Dutch Harbor, Alaska. The participants collectively swam 63,838 lengths of the Lab's swimming pool.

The top lap swimmer was Tom Nehring of the Energy and Utilities division, who swam 100 miles and accomplished the largest number of 69 swims. Laura Loudenslager of the Biology Department swam 3,370 lengths—64 miles.

Robert Todd and John Sinsheimer, both of the National Synchrotron Light Source II, swam the greatest distance in one day—300 lengths or 10,000 yards. They also helped organize the event.

Congratulations go to all of the top achievers and to all participants, who broke many personal records.

The virtual swim participants celebrated with a pizza party on April 20.

The club wishes to acknowledge the great support from BERA in general and from Christine Carter, Sue Dwyer, and the lifeguards for supporting this event.

The Swim Club looks forward to its next virtual swim starting January 2019, and to welcoming more participants from among the Lab staff. If you're interested in joining us in January or before then, please contact Wlodek Guryn at Ext. 3878 or simply ask the lifeguards at the pool.

2018-12940  |  INT/EXT  |  Newsroom