Solo Swims of Ontario Inc.Solo Swims of Ontario Inc.
Kim's three crossings of Lake Ontario between 1985 and 1995 fail to tell the complete story of her various
attempts (1992, 1993 and 1994) to complete the elusive two-way swim - elusive because of the variable weather
conditions on the lake.
Her first cross-lake swim on August 16-17, 1985 was completed in 18:34; it started at Niagara-on-the-Lake at 9:47 pm and she entered the breakwater to the west of Ontario Place to finish at Marilyn Bell Park (specifically, the boat ramp in front of the CNE). Apart from some chop during the first hour of the swim, it was generally calm, and Kim maintained a stroke rate of 64-68 on freestyle throughout the swim.
She competed in the 32nd Lac St Jean race on 26-27 July 1986. That year, the race was a two-way swim, Roberval-Peribonka-Roberval, of 40-miles (64 km) . She completed the one-way 20 mile (32 km) crossing from Roberval to Peribonka in 16:43:10 - Official Results.
In 1987, at age 28, she became the first person to complete a marathon swim on Lake Simcoe. Her swim started at Barrie on Lake Simcoe on July 31st, headed north and through The Narrows into Lake Couchiching, before heading west to finish at Orillia on August 1st - a distance of 26 miles (42 km) in 17 hours 14 minutes. The last 15 km were completed in very choppy water with one-meter-high waves - making the swim tougher, she said, than her Lake Ontario crossing in the previous year. Kim was a counsellor at a group home and her swim was aimed at raising funds for associations for the handicapped in Guelph and Orillia.
On 7th August 1988, Kim completed the first two-way crossing of Lake Erie. She started at 01:45 am from the beach on the eastern side of Port Abino lighthouse - due to the constraints of Private land in that area, Kim swam from the Zodiac to the shore to start her swim. She completed her crossing to Sturgeon Point in 7 hours 8 minutes and immediately resumed her return journey to land at Crystal Beach in a total time of 18:00. After the greetings at the shore, an ambulance took her to Fort Erie hospital for a check-up. Water temperature was around 77-78°F throughout the swim, waves ranged up to 1.5 metres high, and her stroke-rate ranged from a high of 82 during the first 30 minutes at the start to a more steady rate of 64 during the second half of the swim.
In 1989, Kim swam the English Channel in 16:33 from England to France.
Seen above at the 1994 dedication ceremony for the plaque at Niagara-on-the-lake, Kim has served regularly on SSO's organizing committees.
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Created: 7th December 1998
Last Updated: 8th June 2003
