NEWPORT — Swimmers participating in the 25-mile length of Lake Memphremagog amateur swim known as “In Search of Memphre,” were greeted with headwinds from the north ranging from 10 to 20 MPH for the first 15 miles on Wednesday. The waves and chop were high.
Despite conditions, two of the seven swimmers completed the international swim that starts in Newport, Vermont, and ends in Magog, Quebec.
Sharessa Guiterrez, 37, of Omaha, Nebraska completed with a time of 15 hours and 51 minutes.
Vera Rivard, 14, of Springfield, New Hampshire and Derby, Vermont, came in at 16 hours and 24 minutes. In doing so, she became the youngest person ever to cross the 25 miles of Lake Memphremagog.
Five other swimmers laid down inspiring swims and completed various distances fighting the headwinds.
Cara Marie Manlandro, 28, of Derwood, Maryland, completed 23.5 miles before communication difficulties regarding the landing location caused her to end her swim, just short of the finish.
Sandra Frimerman-Bergquist, 34, of Exelsior, MN, Eric Schall, 57, of Kingston, PA, Dan Shub, 69 of Baltimore, MD, and Mary Stabinsky, 41, of Plains, PA, completed various distances ranging from 6 to 17 miles.
Shub was the oldest person to attempt a Memphremagog Crossing and the last of those to pull. He completed 17 miles.
Swimmers left Newport at 5:31 a.m. as the sun began to rise.
Water temperatures ranged from 72 through 74 throughout the day, with sunny skies. The air temperature was in the 60s and 70s, and the high winds began to diminish at around noon.
In Search of Memphre was started in 2011 to promote a more open border with Canada.
Swimmers in this year’s Search dedicated their swims to the Asylum Seekers and are encouraging donations to the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project at https://asylumadvocacy.org/
The swim was organized by Kingdom Games, which hosts over 25 days of running, biking, swimming and ice skating events in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont and the Eastern Townships of Quebec.
