Man Up … John Zemaitis Completes Monterey Marathon

Courtesy of KSBW Channel 8, Monterey Bay, California. After Cindy Cleveland (15 hours 21 minutes in 1980), Patti Bauernfeind (13 hours 0 minutes in 2014),  Kimberly Rutherford (22 hours 6 minutes in 2014), and Amy Appelhans Gubser (17 hours 49 minutes in 2017) crossed Monterey Bay in northern California, John Zemaitis swam for 17 hours 20 minute. On June 5th, he 36-year-old swimmer became the first man to make the crossing, the biggest challenge of his prolific career.  He came out of the water looking extremely good, casually jogging up the shoreline and wasn’t even shivering after his overnight crossing.   Representatives of the Monterey Bay Swimming Association decided to pull his brother Joe only a mile from the finish of the tandem swim due to hypothermia. Only John was able to complete the swim. His older brother, Joe, had to be pulled from the water after showing signs of hypothermia about a mile offshore from Monterey.  “[It is] near the top of the most difficult ones, just cause the water temperature and the distance,” said John of the 56°F (13.3°C) water and 40 km distance. Meanwhile, brother Joe was transported to a hospital to be checked for hypothermia, but John said his brother will return to complete one of the toughest marathon swims in the world. Copyright © 2008-2019 by World Open Water Swimming Association