Courtesy of Arik Thormahlen, Brooklyn, New York.

Jaimie Monahan seemed to be everywhere, doing everything, in the open water world during 2018.

The World Open Water Swimming Woman of the Year nominee completed the 15 km Cold Half Marathon Swim in Hong Kong, a 18.5 km New York Bay swim, and the 45.9 km 20 Bridges Manhattan Island Swim in New York at the end of a 16-day global tour where she completed 6 marathon swims in South America (Colombia in 32°C water), Oceania (Australia in 15°C water), Asia (Singapore in 29°C water), Africa (Egypt in 30°C water), Europe (Switzerland to France in 20°C water) to set her second Guinness World Record. She also took the time to complete 2 Ice Miles in Paradise Harbour in Antarctica (in 0.57°C water) and Ilulissat Harbour in Greenland (in 2.43°C water) and was honored by the Ice Swimming Hall of Fame.

In addition to her swimming achievements, she also helped administer the Lake Geneva Swimming Association and organized a Vampire Swim in Brooklyn, New York.

The Vampire Swim is an informal open water swim and costume party held around the Halloween weekend in Ireland, Scotland, Canada, and throughout the United States. Swimmers give blood in the 6 weeks before the swim or make a donation to a blood collection organization in their community.

Vampire Swim began in 2015 on the inspiration of Greg O’Connor, Monahan, and Phil White – and quickly grew its Vampire Swimming community.

The minimum open water distance is 25 meters where creative costumes are encouraged and wetsuits and flippers are allowed.



Vampire Swim Venues:
* Vampire Swim Newport, Vermont, USA by Phil White, phw1948@gmail.com
* Vampire Swim Westport, Connecticut, USA Vampire Swim by Liz Fry, eafry@aol.com
* Vampire Swim Loch Ness, Inverness, Scotland by Helen Beveridge, helen@bevs.org
* Vampire Swim Flathead Lake, Polson, Montana, USA by Mark Johnston, Coach@FlowSwimmers.com
* Vampire Swim Galveston, Texas by Bill Dailey, daileyw@tamug.edu
* Vampire Swim Atlanta, Georgia by Mary Staples, mary_j_staples@yahoo.com
* Vampire Swim San Francisco, California, USA by Cathy Delneo and Suzie Dods, cathy.delneo@gmail.com
* Vampire Swim Northumberland, England by Jane Hardy and Active Northumberland, jhardy01@activenorthumberland.org.uk
* Vampire Swim Boston, Massachusetts, USA by Greg O’Connor, ​gregoc@rcn.com
* Vampire Swim Ottawa, Ontario, Canada by Nadine Bennett, nadine.ilona.bennett@gmail.com
* Vampire Swim Loch Lomond, Scotland by Chris Sifleet, chrissifleet@yahoo.co.uk
* Vampire Swim Annapolis, Maryland, USA by Bill Shipp and Janet Kylander Manning, wshipp@omng.com and janet.manning86@yahoo.com
* Vampire Swim Myrtleville, County of Cork, Ireland by Barry Aisling, barry.aisling08@gmail.com
* Vampire Swim Brooklyn, New York, USA by Jaimie Monahan, Jaimie.Monahan@gmail.com
* Vampire Swim Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA by Erin Churchill, erinchurchill81@aol.com
* Vampire Swim Dublin, Ireland by Fergal Somerville and Laura Williamson, fergal.somerville@gmail.com and lwilliamsonmcgann@gmail.com
* Vampire Swim San Diego, California, USA by Dan Simonelli, dan.simonelli@yahoo.com
* Vampire Swim Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA by Jamie Ann Phillips, jamieann.phillips@gmail.com
* Vampire Swim Portland, Oregon, USA by Cindy Werhane, pulaskidog@hotmail.com
* Vampire Swim Detroit, Michigan, USA by Jef Mallett, jefmallett@sbcglobal.net
* Vampire Swim Indian Rocks Beach, Florida, USA by JC Malick, shoreswim@yahoo.com
* Vampire Swim Toronto, Ontario, Canada by Amy Ross, amysharpross@gmail.com

For more information or wish to host a new Vampire Swim venue, contact Phil White, Director of the Kingdom Games, at phw1948@gmail.com. For more information about the Vampire Swims, visit here.

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