Hank Wise To Be Honored By Iconix Fitness

Courtesy of WOWSA, Long Beach, California.

Hank Wise, the reigning King of the Catalina Channel together with Samuel Neri and the captain of the fastest Catalina Channel relay in history, is a native of Long Beach, California.

Wise will be honored by Iconix Fitness for his ocean-swimming exploits. Iconix Fitness has sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean and Catalina Island in its facility on the Long Beach shoreline next to the 50m Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool.

Owner Kurt Schneiter knows the value of its location, “Sometimes there’s just no substitute for sand beneath your toes.

Members can stash their stuff in the locker rooms and head out to 5 miles of beautiful beach for sun, surf, play and exercise.”

Wise follows along in the wake of many icons of the open water world who have lived and trained in Long Beach:

1. Greta Andersen, a dual inductee in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame and International Swimming Hall of Fame, for her 1948 Olympic medaling winning performances and victories in channel and marathon swims around the world, trained in Long Beach including 10-mile kicking workouts in the ocean.

2. Lynne Cox, a dual inductee in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame and International Swimming Hall of Fame, trained for her record-setting with the Phillips 66 Swim Club and near the Queen Mary while doing ocean swims in Long Beach before setting off around the world on her numerous unprecedented world record swims.

3. Penny Dean, PhD, a dual inductee in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame and International Swimming Hall of Fame, was the most recent person to concurrently hold the overall world records in the English Channel and Catalina Channel. She trained for hours and hours on end off the side of Queen Mary to prepare for her record crossings.

4. Jack LaLanne,America’s godfather of fitness, swam to keep in shape throughout his career. He swam shackled and handcuffed while towing 76 people at the age of 62, 70 people at the age of 70, and 80 people at the age of 80 in Long Beach Harbor.

5. Fran Crippen, a leading Olympic podium hopeful before his death in a FINA competition, won his last major race in Marine Stadium in Long Beach at the 2010 USA Swimming National Open Water Swimming Championships [shown above in a race where he outsprinted world 10 km champion Chip Peterson, 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Richard Weinberger, FINA 10 km silver medalist Andrew Gemmell, and 2-time Olympian and world marathon swimming champion Alex Meyer.

6. Pat McCormick, a four-time Olympic diving gold medalist, swam in and around Naples Island while practicing dives off the Los Alamitos Bridge in Long Beach. Copyright © 2008 – 2020 by World Open Water Swimming Association