Celebrating Rose Pitonof From Manhattan To Coney Island
Courtesy of Deanne Draeger, Urban Swim, New York. Tomorrow is the 7th Annual Rose Pitonof Swim in New York City.
“The swimmers include Abigail Fairman, Austin Frazer, Randy Hill, Jaimie Monahan, Marty Munson, and Andrew Trout.
We are also very excited to welcome the relay swimmers from St. Benedict’s High School in South Africa. The students will be split into two relay teams, Bennie’s 1 & 2 and include Wian De Groot, Enrico Giuricich, Tyron Grabe, Trent Graham, Connor Johnston, Clayton Le Roux, Stefanos Markatselis, Bradley Petersen, Andrew Smith, Matthew Taylor, Keagan Wood, and Kevin Yao.“
The ubiquitous Monahan describes her participation in the 17-mile (27.3 km) race from Manhattan Island to Coney Island, “I am inspired by the history of marathon swimming, in particular the legacy of amazing female pioneers like Agnes Beckwith, Annette Kellerman, Rose Pitonof, and Gertrude Ederle.
In celebration of my recent 40 Bridges Double Manhattan Island Swim and in anticipation of this weekend’s Rose Pitonof Swim, I enjoyed the experience of being photographed by talented fine artist Rowan Renee of Brooklyn Tintype via the Wet-Plate Collodion process.
Rowan is a true artist and I am also tickled at the idea that is is possible that Rose and I might have been photographed by the very same 1911 Eastman Kodak camera, manufactured just one year before her historic swim [see above].
David Upman of St. Benedict’s college swim team looks forward to its young swimmers taking on a challenging open water swim far away from home. “In 2015, a group of South African junior high school swimmers convinced their coach to start planning on a swimming tour to the United States to swim with some of the best colleges, clubs and take on the Rose Pitonof swim 17 miles from Manhattan Island to Coney Island after two years of planning and fundraising along with vigourous training for this lifetime opportunity.
Finally, the hard work and efforts have culminated and the team of 12 boys aged between 15 and 17 have arrived in New York for the Rose Pitonof swim. The 12 boys have been split into two teams as this will give the two teams an opportunity to race against each other and the elements that they will encounter over the 17-mile distance along the East river under historical bridges and ending at Steeplechase Pier in Coney Island.”
“The tidal-assisted swim commemorates the historic swim of Rose Pitonof, a world champion swimmer of the early 1900s,” explains race founder Deanne Draeger. “Rose was the first person ever to successfully complete this swim at the young age of 17.”
For more information on tomorrow’s race, visit Urban Swim and Rose Pitonof Swim.
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Southern California native, born 1962, is the creator of the WOWSA Awards, Oceans Seven, Openwaterpedia, Citrus Corps, World Open Water Swimming Association, Daily News of Open Water Swimming, Global Open Water Swimming Conference. He is Chief Executive Officer of KAATSU Global and KAATSU Research Institute. Inductee in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Swimmer, Class of 2001) and Ice Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Contributor - Media, Class of 2019), recipient of the International Swimming Hall of Fame's Poseidon Award (2016), International Swimming Hall of Fame's Irving Davids-Captain Roger Wheeler Memorial Award (2010), USA Swimming's Glen S. Hummer Award (2007, 2010) and Harvard University's John B. Imrie Award (1984). Served on the FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee and as Technical Delegate with the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games, and 9-time USA Swimming coaching staff. Note: WOWSA only recommends products or services used or recommended by the community. WOWSA does not receive compensation for links or products mentioned on this site or in blog posts. If it does, it will be indicated clearly on that specific post. See WOWSA's privacy policy for more information.
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