At Willoughby III, 23 swimmers and 23 yackers took to the water from North Beach in Willoughby swimming south for burgers and corn on the cob, waiting for them at South Beach.

The 4.75-mile Willoughby Swim started in 2010 under the governance of the Northeast Kingdom Open Water Swimming Association (NEKOWSA), a club organized by Indoor Recreation Orleans County (IROC) dedicated to promoting and hosting swims in The Kingdom’s Legendary Lakes.

Mike Rutledge, 42 of Mississauga, Ontario won the non-wetsuit division with a time of 1:56:47 narrowly edging out Bill Pease, 59, of Berkeley, California, who hit the beach with a time of 2:04:33. Third place went to David Uprichard of New York City.

Kayla Angier, 24 of Winooski, Vermont won the female non-wetsuit division with a time of 2:07:48, just a couple of minutes ahead of Cheryl Elinsky, 49, of White River Junction, Vermont and local Shannon Keeghan, 37, of Derby in third. Keeghan continued on and jumped back in the water for a 9.5 mile double crossing.

In the wetsuit divisions, the overall winner was 67-year-old Clifford Pollard of Windsor, Vermont in 2:12:19. Pollard beat Bill Tesar, 59 of Leonia, New Jersey and Roland Strasser, 53 of Asbury, New Jersey.

Pam Dolan, 45 of Mystic, Connecticut claimed the honors in the female wetsuit division with a time of 2:12:55. Paula Yankauskas, 58 of Hyde Park, Vermont and Karen Vasso of North Chelmsford, Massachusetts claimed second and third.

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