Off Their Rockers

Jennifer Figge. who lives far from oceanfront property in Aspen, Colorado, did a one-way from Cape Verde, Africa to Trinidad, beaching herself (February 5) after 21 days in big swells and strong winds. A sailboat tagged along as her watery base camp. 

After some R&R in a Trinidad hotel (staying away from the pool) Figge plans to swim second leg, to the British Virgins. If all goes OK, she’ll reach land later this month.

Back in Aspen, she trained in an outdoor pool during blizzards.

Source: Associated Press, February 8, 2009

Or so we thought! Latest report, Figge swam in a cage pulled along by the boat, she was in and out of the water, so it’s unclear how many hour/miles she actually swam. In athletics, as in finance, the unbelievable often deserves to be called that….

BY MICHELLE KAUFMAN

Your 56-year-old mother tells you she plans to swim 2,100 miles across the Atlantic Ocean, from the Cape Verde Islands off the African coast to Barbados. She will swim behind a sailboat, in a giant cage to ward off sharks. She figures she’ll be in the water six to eight hours a day, which means it will take her just over two months to fulfill her mission.

She’ll dive in Dec. 1 and reach her destination sometime in early February 2009.

Your reaction?

If you’re race-car driver Alex Figge, you smile, shrug your shoulders, and say: “Way to go, Mom. Be careful out there. We’ll miss you at Christmas.”

Jennifer Figge has been doing multistage endurance events since her only son was in elementary school in Davenport, Iowa, so he was ”not shocked at all” when she told him of her latest intention. ”I know it sounds weird, but everyone in our family expects stuff like this from my mom,” said Alex, 27, who races in the LeMans series. “I’d be surprised if she wasn’t doing something extreme.”

Her first challenge was a 300-mile, 12-day run across Iowa in 1989. Alex’s third-grade teacher put up a map in the classroom that read: ”Where is Mrs. Figge today?” The children moved pushpins across the map to chart her course.

It would take many, many pushpins to chronicle Figge’s adventures since. She has run 400 miles across France, 350 miles across Romania, 450 miles across India, 576 miles across South America, 300 miles across Thailand (north to south), 300 miles across Iceland, and 180 miles across Mexico (the final 60 miles in a leg cast). She swam across the Straits of Gibralter, from Tahiti to Moorea, from Turkey to Greece, across the Cozumel Channel, and through the heads of Sydney Harbor. Last year, she battled eight-foot-swells as she swam 52 miles from Cay Sal Bank in the Bahamas to Marathon in the Keys.

In all, she has traversed more than 3,300 miles on land, and done roughly 25 channel crossings by sea. But nothing she has done compares with her latest endeavor, a stunt that, as far as anyone knows, has been conquered by only two people, and never by a woman.

http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/story/726223.html

Strel in the river...

The English Channel is a swimmers’ Everest. Climbers who’ve bagged the tallest peak outnumber swimmers who’ve crossed the Channel, so going by head count, the watery conquest is the rarer achievement than the snowy one. Record breakers seek fame, and possible fortune if their books sell, in both arenas: on Everest for being the oldest to get to the top, through the Channel for being the oldest or fastest to get to the other side. At 61, Sue Oldham, an epileptic from Australia, became the latest champ in the oldest female category (2006). The prior record holder, Carol Sing of San Diego, was 58.

At 70, George Brunstad, went the distance and became the oldest male finisher (2004). A national and world Master’s swimming champ, Brunstad credits Tom’s of Maine mouthwash for keeping his mouth clean and fresh through 15-plus hours of sea water intake. The press made a fuss over Brunstad–it gave them an excuse to talk about his Matt Damon connection (uncle).Meanwhile, the world’s trophy rivers have begun to attract age and speed record breakers, the most spectacular so far being Martin Strel. At 52, the unstoppable Slovenian jumped in at one end of the Amazon, then bobbed up 65 days later: after fending off piranhas, gators and bloodsucking toothpick fish along the way. Bogged, bewildered, and totally bushed, Strel passed up the celebratory press conference (fastest and the oldest to navigate the entire Amazon) in favor of the ER at the nearest hospital, which admitted him at first sight. No stranger to exhausting swims, Strel had already broken speed and endurance records on the Mississippi (2360 miles, 1998), the Danube (2000, and the Yangtze (2487 miles, 2004).

• Source: www.amazonswim.com/main.php. Same source for photo.

Jeff King. Moved to Alaska in 1975, began racing in 1980, one of four mushers to win Iditerod 4 times. At 50, in 2006, King became the oldest winner in Iditerod history. Operates a kennel near Denali National Park, tinkers with sled design, added a seat belt, heated handlebars, invented a sit-down frame dubbed the Iditerod Barcalounger.

• Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_King_(mushing)