Régent Lacoursière Talks About Life On WOWSA Live, Part 1

Steven Munatones 04/21/2021 open water swimming No Comment

Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.

Régent Lacoursière, an Honor Swimmer in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame, talked about his career and myriad experiences in the professional marathon swimming world with Ned Denison on WOWSA Live. Monday was his 86th birthday.

A part of Lacoursière’s career is summarized below:

As an amateur competitive swimmer, he won over 300 medals.
By the age of 18, he held twelve national Canadian records and was selected to Canada’s National team to swim at the Commonwealth Games (British Empire Games) of 1954. He turned professional a short time later.
In 1955, he finished 5th in the 37 km Atlantic City Around-the-Island Swim around Absecon Island, Atlantic City, New Jersey in 10 hours 36 minutes 15 seconds at the age of 19.
In 1959, he finished 5th in the 37 km Atlantic City Around-the-Island Swim around Absecon Island, Atlantic City, New Jersey in 11 hours 41 minutes 37 seconds at the age of 23.
In 1960, he finished 4th in the 37 km Atlantic City Around-the-Island Swim around Absecon Island, Atlantic City, New Jersey in 10 hours 57 minutes 19 seconds at the age of 24.
In 1961, he finished 4th in the 37 km Atlantic City Around-the-Island Swim around Absecon Island, Atlantic City, New Jersey in 11 hours 39 minutes 20 seconds at the age of 25.
In 1962, he finished 4th in the 37 km Atlantic City Around-the-Island Swim around Absecon Island, Atlantic City, New Jersey in 12 hours 12 minutes 15 seconds at the age of 26.
In 1963, he finished 3rd in the 37 km Atlantic City Around-the-Island Swim around Absecon Island, Atlantic City, New Jersey in 12 hours 13 minutes 15 seconds at the age of 27.
On 29 July 1963, he completed a 13 km crossing from New Brunswick to Prince Edward Island in Canada in 7+ hours at the age of 27.
In 1964, he finished 3rd in the 37 km Atlantic City Around-the-Island Swim around Absecon Island, Atlantic City, New Jersey in 10 hours 31 minutes 23 seconds at the age of 28.
On 11 July 1965, he finished 8th in the 36 km Maratona del Golfo Capri-Napoli in Italy in 10 hours 44 minutes 23 seconds at the age of 29.
He continued his marathon swimming career until 1975.
In 1959, he won the 42 km marathon swim in Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico, finishing in 8 hours 22 minutes.
He finished 14 Traversée internationale du lac St-Jean professional marathon swims over the course of his career.
- On 3 August 1958, he finished 3rd in the 26 km Traversée internationale du lac St-Jean from Vauvert to Roberval, Quebec, Canada in 9 hours 3 minutes.
- On 8 August 1959, he finished 2nd in the 30 km Traversée internationale du lac St-Jean from Péribonka to Roberval, Quebec, Canada in 9 hours 24 minutes 52 seconds.
- On 7 August 1960, he finished won the 30 km Traversée internationale du lac St-Jean from Péribonka to Roberval, Quebec, Canada in 9 hours 30 minutes 12 seconds.
- On 5 August 1961, he finished 2nd in the 30 km Traversée internationale du lac St-Jean from Péribonka to Roberval, Quebec, Canada in 10 hours 16 minutes 10 seconds.
- On 4 August 1962, he finished 3rd in the 30 km Traversée internationale du lac St-Jean from Péribonka to Roberval, Quebec, Canada in 9 hours 58 minutes 11 seconds.
- On 3 August 1963, he finished 2nd in the 30 km Traversée internationale du lac St-Jean from Péribonka to Roberval, Quebec, Canada in 8 hours 53 minutes 43 seconds.
- On 8 August 1964, he finished 3rd in the 30 km Traversée internationale du lac St-Jean from Péribonka to Roberval, Quebec, Canada in 10 hours 47 minutes 45 seconds.
- On 7 August 1965, he finished 2nd in the 30 km Traversée internationale du lac St-Jean from Péribonka to Roberval, Quebec, Canada in 8 hours 45 minutes 35 seconds.
- On 6 August 1966, he finished 3rd in the 30 km Traversée internationale du lac St-Jean from Péribonka to Roberval, Quebec, Canada in 8 hours 59 minutes 35 seconds.
- On 5 August 1967, he finished 2nd in the 30 km Traversée internationale du lac St-Jean from Péribonka to Roberval, Quebec, Canada in 9 hours 18 minutes 0 seconds.
- On 3 August 1968, he finished 4th in the 30 km Traversée internationale du lac St-Jean from Péribonka to Roberval, Quebec, Canada in 10 hours 47 minutes 16 seconds.
- On 2 August 1969, he finished 5th in the 30 km Traversée internationale du lac St-Jean from Péribonka to Roberval, Quebec, Canada in 11 hours 20 minutes 21 seconds.
- On 1 August 1970, he finished 9th in the 30 km Traversée internationale du lac St-Jean from Péribonka to Roberval, Quebec, Canada in 10 hours 8 minutes 45 seconds.
- On 7 August 1971, he finished 8th in the 30 km Traversée internationale du lac St-Jean from Péribonka to Roberval, Quebec, Canada in 11 hours 6 minutes 2 seconds.
He was elected as a vice-president of the World Professional Marathon Swimming Federation in 1971.
He finished 3rd in the 1968 45 km Le Marathon du Saguenay in Canada in 9 hours 10 minutes.

To learn more about him and read his book L’Homme De L’Eau, visit his website www.manofwater.com.

Author
Recent Posts

Steven Munatones

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.

Latest posts by Steven Munatones (see all)