Town Swimmers Participate in Swim Across the Sound

Three Monroe swimmers joined nearly 300 participants in St. Vincent's Medical Center Foundation's 23rd Annual SWIM Across the Sound Saturday, meeting the challenges of the swift current and raising more than $400,000 for cancer research.

Starting at approximately 8:30 Saturday morning, swimmers stepped off Old Field Beach on Long Island's north shore to make the 15.5 mile swim across the Sound's choppy waters escorted by a fleet of boats guide them to their destination at Captain's Cove Seaport.

This year's participants consisted of 45 six-member relay teams, two 2-man relay teams, 10 solo swimmers and 110 boat captains, along with countless volunteers at Captain's Cove awaiting their arrival.

During the marathon relay teams could be located by two-way radio, GPS technology and computerized tracking software at a booth along the Cove's boardwalk.

Elizabeth Fry, SWIM marathon director, who lost her mother and grandmother to cancer, announced results and congratulated swimmers at the finish line throughout the day.

Fry said preliminary totals on donations for the event were estimated at approximately $400,000 and attributes that success to the increased number of swimmers participating, approximately 50 more than last year's event.  

In 2009, the SWIM Across the Sound events series raised $2.65 million.

"The swimmers are very dedicated and get very creative on their fundraising," she said. "They will do anything they can to raise money for the event."  

An accomplished channel swimmer in her own right, Fry successfully swam the English Channel three times, the Catalina Island Channel and circumnavigated around Manhattan Island, beating the previous record by six hours.

"I look at swimming as an opportunity to face challenges and do fundraising," she said.

The first of Monroe's swimmers to finish, Danielle Honrath, 25, a member of the Fair Diego relay team, said this is her fourth time participating in the race.

Honrath said the Fair Diego team donated $10,000 for the event, raised in part through a bake sale at TracyLocke in Wilton, where she works as a marketing associate.

Honrath said she was first  inspired to participate in the event back in 2001 with her mother after losing both of her grandparents to cancer.

"I always do this in memory of them," she said.

Honrath's younger sister, Lauren, a 2003 Masuk High School graduate swimming with the Iron Fish relay team finished later in the day.

She said the swim went well except for a barge crossing the team's path towards the end of the race and a few jellyfish bites.

Lauren, 22, said she was also swimming in memory of her grandparents, adding that she has also had friends who were affected by cancer.

"This is my way of giving back," she said. "It makes me feel good and is helping my friends."

 Amelia Suda, a 17-year-old swimmer and a 2010 Masuk High School graduate, participated as a member of the Shelton/Monroe Rapids and finished the marathon in just under eight hours.

Suda trained two hours a day six days a week over the past year for the event.

She said afterwards she felt she was prepared, but faced some rough waters towards the middle of the sound.

 "It was a little rocky and there were a lot of waves, but other than that it went very well," she said.

Suda will be attending Bentley University in the fall to study marketing and participate in the college's division II swim team.  

During the awards ceremony the "LLBH Private Wealth Management" relay team was recognized for finishing first, followed by the "Westport Lane 3" and "Fifteenagers" relay teams for second and third place.

The SWIM Foundation also recognized participant Maura Marden, 53 of Westport, a member on the Team Pride II team, who raised $20,000 and finished in 10th place.

Marden, a cancer survivor and medic participating in her first race as a swimmer, said thanks to donations she was able to receive cancer treatment and support services during her illness.

"All of you who have donated need to know that every penny you give makes all the difference in the lives of people who need it," she said.

For more information, visit www.swimacrossthesound.org