The hoopla surrounding the NYC Swim Manhattan Island Marathon Swim is a huge deal for the marathon swimming community. The competition and the camaraderie helps draw the community together. When people succeed, their family and friends are ecstatic. When they are pulled from the waterways around New York, they are crestfallen.

But life and the open water swimming community often gives second chances.

For ten swimmers, they have a second chance to complete a 28.5-mile circumnavigation around Manhattan Island on August 24th. Lives were put on hold, training sessions were extended, and travel plans were renewed when NYC Swim offered a second chance to swim around Manhattan after its 2013 Manhattan Island Marathon Swim this June. And for three swimmers, the swim will be a special culmination of a long road they have embarked.

Steven Green, Jim Neitz, and Karen Throsby will be making the most of their second MIMS chance.

They have all completed two of the three swims and just need to lasso Manhattan in order to achieve the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming.

“I feel relatively confident since I now know the course. It is a fun course,” said Neitz, a member of the Ventura Deep Six. “There is some nervousness, since I am trying to get back to the level of fitness I had for the first swim. It was my strongest swim ever, and I want to give the same performance without the hiccups.”

But there are always hiccups in marathon swims. “The water will likely be 75-80ºF (23-26ºF) degrees. I have never done a long swim at higher than 64 degrees. I am worried about being too hot.”

But he will have his training partner and buddy right at his side. “Tom Ball has been my paddler or support swimmer in English Channel for the 6 long swims I have done since 2011. When he is paddling, Tom never leaves the water for the entire swim. He is definitely coming back for the next Manhattan. The kayaker is always important, but for me in Manhattan it is taken to a different level. There is so much happening all around you and the kayak is really your only connection to the cacophonic world. The open ocean seems more stationary. You can communicate with the boat crew and take in the surroundings, which generally all move in slow motion. Manhattan is a sensory overload and you trust your kayaker to negotiate the noise. I am glad I have Tom!

I was hopeful NYC Swim would put together a second chance so I didn’t have to stew over it for a full year. I am very happy for the opportunity but I was not surprised because NYC Swim is a classy organization and a second chance seems natural under the circumstances.”

The quiet swim participants are show here and below:

1. Steven Green
2. Nicole Hirschman
3. Phyllis Ho
4. Frank Levy
5. James Neitz
6. James Penrose
7. Caitlin Rosen
8. Kristian Rutford
9. Gretchen Sanders
10. Karen Throsby

For more information about this quiet swim, visit here.

Copyright © 2013 by World Open Water Swimming Association