Have you ever walked on the sublime Brooklyn Bridge? Observed the Manhattan Bridge? Admired the George Washington Bridge? They are famous and spectacular from above. But what do they look like from below? Guillaume Filion will soon know it, since he will swim under each of them.
Published yesterday at 9:00 p.m.
Friday morning, at precisely 8:10 a.m., Filion will dive into the East River to begin the 20 Bridges Swim. As its name suggests, it is a swim (48.5 km) under the 20 bridges surrounding the island of Manhattan.
A swim of around eight hours in open water… and cold.
Tuesday afternoon, at the time of Filion’s call with The Pressit stood at 65.8 degrees Fahrenheit (18 degrees Celsius). After a few nights of 5 and 6°C in New York last week, the water temperature only continued to drop, until it stagnated at the start of the week.
As Filion will not be wearing a wetsuit, the challenge – and the swimmer’s greatest fear – will mainly lie in tolerance to cold water.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY GUILLAUME FILION
Guillaume Filion
“My training volume is done: since the beginning of May, I have been doing 80 km weeks. […] My challenge in the last few weeks was to tolerate the cold water, to condition my body to delay hypothermia as late as possible.
“I know my body, I did 2:30-3 hours at 64 degrees [17 °C]I got out of the water and I was okay. But too close to 60 degrees, it starts to be very difficult. Mechanically, I am not capable of lasting very long. »
Fortunately, “we are currently announcing warming in New York, at 20 degrees Celsius with sunshine,” indicates the 45-year-old Quebecer. ” It’s good ! I’m also lucky because we’re not forecasting too much wind,” he adds.
For his daughters
Filion struggles to explain to us where this idea of taking on such a challenge came from. Although he has been swimming since the age of 7, the sex crimes officer from the City of Montreal Police Department has only been swimming in open water since 2020, the year when the COVID-19 pandemic led to the closure of swimming pools.
He had to find new ways to train. He started swimming in open water and completed races of 5 km, then 10 km and 15 km.
“When you start doing very long distance swimming, the races are not very present. There’s not much, it’s quite limited. You come across things like the English Channel and Lake Saint-Jean, very legendary crossings. »
The 20 Bridges Swim, he said, “wasn’t too far, not too expensive – even though it’s $5,500 plus fees and a deposit.”
I found it to be a good, accessible challenge.
Guillaume Filion
Note that this challenge is part of the triple crown of open water swimming, which also includes crossing the English Channel and the crossing between Santa Catalina Island and California.
After learning that his registration had been accepted, Filion decided to kill two birds with one stone and raise funds for an organization. As the father of two daughters aged 9 and 13, he opted for FitSpirit, an organization whose mission is to encourage teenage girls to be active for life. He raised $10,400.
“I am an investigator of sex crimes against children. We agree that I see some shit. I see that some children have a pattern of going into bad company.
“Sport always kept me in one direction, in discipline, with friends who were good to hang out with. I think I do it a little more for [mes] girls only for me. »
Three rivers
Friday morning, therefore, Filion will launch into the water in the company of his kayaker, who will follow him from start to finish. It will depart from Battery Park in southwest Manhattan and swim counterclockwise.
It will first travel through the East River Strait, above which the Brooklyn Bridge rises, then the Harlem River Strait, which accommodates a total of 15 bridges. The route ends with the Hudson River, which includes only one bridge, the George Washington Bridge.
PHOTO PAMELA SMITH, ARCHIVES ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Brooklyn Bridge
“Perhaps I will slow down or lie on my back when I go under the bridges so I can see them, appreciate them. I might take the time to look at them, but I won’t stop completely. »
What’s also boring is that I breathe to the right, but we’re going in the opposite direction; the island is therefore on the left. I won’t see that much Manhattan!
Guillaume Filion
The full moon this Thursday will have, according to what the organizers of the 20 Bridges Swim told him, a “direct effect” on the tide, which will be “a little higher”. The current that pushes it will therefore be stronger.
“I have it in my head that I’m going to be in the water for eight hours,” he says, even though the organization’s estimates are that it will be seven hours and thirty minutes.
And what will he think about for eight hours in the water?
” I don’t know ! That’s a good question! I have time to think about many things: work, family, the Christmas presents that are coming…”
Questionable water quality…
PHOTO LEONARDO MUNOZ, ARCHIVES AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
The Hudson River
Guillaume Filion admits to being concerned about the “poor” water quality in New York, especially in the Harlem River, which is “really small, so the concentration of junk is quite a bit higher”.
Marc Vaillancourt, another Quebecer who completed the 20 Bridges Swim at the end of August, himself experienced the water of the Harlem River. “At some point, you’re swimming and you think: this stings a little in the lower back. You pass your hand and there was something stuck. What exactly was it? I don’t know. I think I don’t want to know either,” he tells The Press.
“When I was swimming, I could see right down to my hand in the water,” he adds. In [le détroit de la] Harlem River, I could no longer see up to my elbow. The water was very brown. »
Vaillancourt, who nevertheless describes his experience as “fantastic”, did not experience any health problems – “no pimples, no illness, just sore shoulders”, he says.
Guillaume Filion took some measures; In particular, he was vaccinated. “In the histories, I have not seen anyone seriously hospitalized. I’ve seen people who have been sick, I don’t hide it, but I’m swimming in the river. I don’t know if it’s going to be worse than the river. I find the river very good. […] I’m not the first. I’m certainly not the last either. Come what may! »
