SECOND ANNUAL "RACE FOR THE RIVER" SWIM TO BE HELD JULY 17, 1999
Posted online: Thursday, 15 July 1999
NEW YORK, N.Y., July 15, 1999 -- The second annual Race for the River Swim, a 2.4 mile swim up the Hudson River, will be held on Saturday, July 17, 1999. The race, called the Wrong Way Swim last year, will begin at 2:30 p.m. at the North Cove Yacht Club at the World Financial Center and end at Chelsea Piers (Pier 62 at 23rd Street). New York City Parks Commissioner Henry Stern will sound the horn to start the race and will then present awards to the winners at Chelsea Piers.
The Race for the River Swim, which will draw approximately 70 swimmers, is sponsored by the Manhattan Island Foundation (MIF), Hudson River Park Conservancy , the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, Battery Park City Parks Corporation, Hudson River Parks Trust and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
A one-half mile "fun swim" will preceed the Race for the River event. That swim will begin at 1:00 p.m. and go from the South Cove at the World Financial Center to the North Cove.
A parade of large puppets depicting sea creatures, presented by the Arm of the Sea theater, will follow those participating in the fun swim. The theater group will also give a performance at the North Cove, free to the public, after the Race for the River swim begins.
Kris Rutford, 38, a certified public accountant from Lincoln, Nebraska, won the inaugural swim last year with a time of 34 minutes, 15 seconds (34:15). Rutford is a two-time winner (1992 and 1993) of the annual 28.5 mile Manhattan Island Marathon Swim (MIMS), a sister swim of the Race for the River, and holds the men's record for circumnavigating Manhattan (5 hours, 53 minutes, 57 seconds). Thirty-eight swimmers, including 27 men and 11 women, finished the race. They represented 7 states and ranged in age from 19 to 56.
Proceeds from the swim benefit the New York City Learn to Swim program, which helps to establish swimming programs for children as well as rehabilitate swimming pools. Through the MIF's annual MIMS (held this past June 12), along with the 2.8 mile Great Hudson River Swim (from the 79th Street Boat Basin to Chelsea Piers to be held August 1) and the 7.8 mile Little Red Lighthouse Swim (from the George Washington Bridge to Chelsea Piers, to be held Sept. 18), more than $75,000 has been donated to the Learn to Swim program so far.
More about the Race for the River Swim and the fun swim, as well as the MIF and its other swims and activities, can be found at www.nycswim.org. |
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