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Lake Ontario Double Crossing 2022

 

2022 Aug 12-14 Double crossing of Lake Ontario: Toronto (Budapest Park) to Port Dalhousie (Lakeside Park) to Toronto (Budapest Park)     

Distance: 100.5km; age: 43y; Time: 42:27:08 (18:31:55 + 23:55:13)

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*First male double crossing

*Fastest double crossing

*Longest double crossing

*First male North to South

*Fastest Canadian North to south

*Longest swim by a Canadian anywhere

*Eighth longest marathon swim in history

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Sean grew up in Toronto and then went to Yale University. He is currently living in New York City. A couple of Yale friends got him into long-distance open-water swimming. In 2021, became the fourth Canadian to complete the “Triple Crown” of open-water swimming—the English Channel, the Catalina Channel, and the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim. There were times during those swims, particularly the Catalina Channel, that were extraordinarily mentally and physically grueling.  But none of the Triple Crown swims was remotely close in length to this one. Sean said that when he was deciding which swim to do next after the English Channel, he realized that a two-way crossing of Lake Ontario would mean starting and finishing at the Freedom for Hungary Monument in Budapest Park in Toronto. His family fled to Toronto from Hungary after the Second World War, so it "felt like kismet". 

Sean took on this challenge to commemorate his father by raising $50,000 for the Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases out of the University of Toronto. "This cause is incredibly personal for me. My father, who was a criminal defense lawyer in Toronto, passed away five years ago this August after an extremely brief struggle with an unidentified neurodegenerative disease. In just a few short months, the disease robbed him of his career, his mobility, his speech, and ultimately his life. It was an absolutely devastating time for my family, who could do little more than watch as he slipped away." “Because this was the five year anniversary and because this was the biggest swim that I had tried, I wanted to do something in his memory,” he says.

He trained by swimming between 15 and 30 hours each week — plus strength work, physical therapy, stretching, and visualization exercises. During training when he wanted to cut a swim session short, he remembered what his university waterpolo coach said, that he could pay now (during training) or pay later (on game day). 

The second night of the swim on the second crossing was the toughest. Sean was feeling cold and asked his Swim Master, Colleen Shields, to check his core temperature. She was able to reassure him that it was normal. He was feeling cold, afraid and in pain but his team's reassurance helped him get through the night.  He was also inspired by an incredible moonrise and a meter shower. 

When his journey was finally over, Sean was greeted by a large group of loved ones who came out to show their support at Budapest Park in Toronto at around 8 a.m. on Sunday morning. “It really quickly just became a moment of shared joy,” he says. 

The Swim Master on the first crossing, Shaun Chisholm, credits Sean's success to his hard training, eating "far more that I have personally ever seen anyone eat in the water",  a very strong and technically good stroke with excellent traction in his pull and a strong kick, good spirits, and an incredibly well organized team.

 

Sean's marathon swimming resume:

2014 Aug 10 Ederle Swim: Battery to Sandy Hook 28.1km 35y 05:58:14 (6th/12 place)

2015 Sep 26 Swim Around Charleston: Remley's Point to I-526 21km 36y 05:31:27 (17th/26 place)​

2016 Sep 10 Manhattan Island Marathon Swim: Manhattan circumnavigation (CCW) 45.9km 37y 08:44:30

2018 Aug 14 Catalina Channel: Catalina Island to Mainland 32.3km 39y 14:47:15

2021 Aug 3   English Channel: England to France 33km 42y 13:18:00

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Reference for background information:  Yale University Alumni article.