Some people swim laps for fitness.
Elizabeth Fry swims around Manhattan for fun.
Elizabeth Fry (Photo courtesy of New York Daily News)
The 50-year-old Westporter set a record yesterday. She took just 11 hours, 41 minutes and 5 seconds to circumnavigate the island clockwise against the current, starting and finishing the 28.5-mile course at the Willis Avenue Bridge over the Harlem River. She beat the previous record — set in 1995 — by (get this) more than 6 hours.
Oh, 1 more thing: Fry has asthma.
How does she do it?
“You just keep swimming,” she told the New York Daily News, channeling Dory, the singing fish from “Finding Nemo.” “Swimming at night, with the city’s lights on the water, it was terrific.”
She also trained by swimming against a rush of water as it was released from a dam. Damn!
Fry was aided by a crew of volunteers — including her sister — who indicated the best route, cheered her on, and provided energy drinks and snacks.
Fry — a 1976 Staples graduate — spends her days as a financial consultant. She has swim the English Channel 3 times, finished 5th in this summer’s Manhattan Island Marathon Swim, and competes regularly in Westport’s Point-to-Point Swim.
Fry also organizes the annual Swim Across the Sound, a fundraiser in honor of her mother who died of cancer.
Congrats to Liz for this amazing feat. I worked at the YMCA for many years (in the 1980s) and remember Liz as a dedicated, beautiful swimmer way back then. I love seeing a “mature” (ahem) athlete breaking records. It proves that years of practice and experience add quality and worth rather than deterioration of body and soul.