Elaine K. Howley With the George Washington Bridge looming in the background, swimmer Greg O'Connor heads down the Hudson River as he swims toward the finish line of the 28.5-mile Manhattan Island Marathon Swim on Saturday.Last Saturday, 35 swimmers raced 28.5 miles in the East, Harlem and Hudson Rivers around Manhattan as part of the annual Manhattan Island Marathon Swim, one of open-water swimming's premier events.
Erica Rose, 28, won the event in 7 hours, 29 minutes and 46 seconds, beating the second-place finisher and three-time winner John van Wisse of Beaumaris, Australia by 4:04 seconds. Rose is a former FINA World Cup open-water champion and was expected to place well, despite competition from the favorite van Wisse.
espnW caught up with Rose after the event to find out how it went.
espnW: Congratulations on a fantastic swim! How were conditions out there?
Erica Rose: They were great until the Hudson River, and then I was a little bit surprised. Overall, the conditions were great. The water temperature was warmer than I expected, and it was bright and sunny. ...
The current was fast in the East River, as I expected it would be. It was pretty flat and not much current in the Harlem River. In the Hudson it was very choppy and that took me by surprise. It was a little windier than expected, and having been in the water for six hours at that point, I was not thrilled with the choppy water. I said to my paddler, 'No one told me it was going to be choppy!' Other than that, I was a happy camper throughout most of the race.
espnW: What was your race strategy?
ER: My strategy was going to be to try to stay with the men as long as I could. That didn't go so well for me because I took the lead pretty early on. Having never done [this race] before, I figured I would just get in there and hope that my training would pay off and I would figure it out as I went. I didn't really have a strategy. My ultimate goal was to have a great time with it, which I certainly did.
espnW: What was the toughest point of the race for you?
ER: I hit a low spot between three and four hours [into the race] at the end of the Harlem. I felt like that river was never going to end. I didn't know my geography quite well enough to exactly know where I was. That was hard spot No. 1, and once got through that felt like I was on the right track. I entered that chop on the Hudson and I just thought, 'You've got to be kidding!' It was just brutal. But at that point, I had gotten a second wind and was feeling much better so that helped me a lot.
espnW: What do you eat and drink during a race like MIMS?
ER: I'm pretty easy. I mix my own Gatorade the day before and use maybe half to three-quarters of what they recommend on the side of the Gatorade container, so I dilute the Gatorade a little bit. I drink that every 20 minutes. I don't drink very much, but I drink some every 20 minutes. On the hour I take a gel pack. My little treat that I used a couple of times -- my crew was laughing at me -- I like dried pineapple because it has so much sugar.
They gave me an entire pineapple ring. I said, 'What am I supposed to do with this?' [Eating the whole ring would take valuable time that she didn't want to lose.] I took a bite and decided I wanted the rest of it so I just swam with it for a while until I could take another bite. So I was eating pineapple soaked in Harlem River water and the people on my boat were just completely disgusted by the whole thing. It didn't bother me at all, but they thought it was hilarious.
espnW: Did you ever think you might not be able to finish the race?
ER: Not at all. Usually there is a point where I'm whimpering and asking when I can get out and when it's going to be over. But honestly, it got hard at a couple points, but there was just so much to see and it was so exciting. It was a swim that I had been looking forward to for so long that there was never a point where I wanted to get out or where I was really unhappy. I mean it was uncomfortable but it's always going to be uncomfortable. I honestly had a great time. I really had a lot of fun with it.
espnW: What was the most memorable or exciting point in the swim?
ER: For me, that was probably when the Norwegian Princess cruise ship pulled out and I had to stop. It was toward the end of the race and I wasn't exactly sure what was going on. I didn't realize it was pulling out until the police came over and yelled at me with their megaphones to get out of the way. To see a boat of that size from the water ... I've never had that experience. That was a pretty cool experience.
espnW: How did it feel to beat van Wisse knowing that he was the favorite and a three-time winner of the event?
ER: I knew John was going to be really strong. I think most of all I was looking forward to meeting him. I've heard such great things about him, and everything I've heard is true. He's the most gracious competitor. He finished the race and came over and gave me a great big hug and said that I had a great swim. I'm so impressed by him. For me it was exciting to get to be in there with him.
espnW: What's next?
ER: I have a couple swims this summer. I'm doing the Harbor Springs Coastal Crawl in Michigan and Big Shoulders in Chicago. Big Shoulders is one of my all-time favorites -- I just have such a ball doing that swim. I'm also signed up to do a relay crossing of English Channel next summer with five other women from Ann Arbor, all of whom have very strong backgrounds. We are raising money for a non-profit group that supports Lou Gherig's disease (ALS). We're going to do it as a fundraising swim, so that's something I'm starting to look forward and get excited about, but it's a ways off in the distance.
