It was a light but steady rain that fell early Thursday evening, unlike the torrential downpours North Bay has experienced for much of this summer. And while it was enough to keep most people indoors, it did provide a good training opportunity for two city residents who are preparing to swim Lake Ontario next weekend.
Jade Scognamillo and her partner Kurtis Romanchuk swam a leg of Trout Lake's Tour de Four Mile Bay Thursday night, in part, to prepare for the weekend of August 25th, when the pair will join other swimmers who have signed up to form a relay team, to cross Lake Ontario as a fundraiser for Special Olympics.
Scognamillo is presently the North Bay Heritage Gardeners Coordinator.
"We're part of the 50 for 150 relay swim across Lake Ontario, so we're going to swim 50 kilometres approximately across Lake Ontario to raise $50,000 for Special Olympics Ontario's 50th anniversary. It's all for Canada's 150th anniversary this year," explained Romanchuk. "There is 15 of us on the team in total, so we're each going to take turns swimming about half an hour to 50 minutes in the lake, and we're going to rotate through."
The rotation will be decided on swim day based on weather conditions.
"It is really important to keep getting into cold water as you prepare for Lake Ontario. The lake can get down to 10 degrees Celsius. This water isn't as cold as that but its good just to get in and practice a little bit and get a feel for the water," said Romanchuk.
"If it's just light rain then we can swim in that. So it's good to prepare ourselves and practice in light rain, and these are the conditions we could potentially swim in because the winds aren't too high and the waves aren't too bad," said Scognamillo.
The team attempted the crossing earlier this month, but based on advice from Environment Canada, the swim had to be aborted and rescheduled due to poor weather conditions.
"We made the decision to start the swim and we got about 8 to 10 kilometres out, and once we kind of left the bay area, the winds picked up and so did the waves, so the decision was made to cancel the swim. It's always safety first. We want it to be successful at the end of the day, so we're waiting for a better window of opportunity," said Scognamillo.
Romanchuk has experience as a lifeguard but not as a serious marathon swimmer.
"You can do the distance in the pool but just to get in the lake and face the additional challenges of being in a large open body of water, you sort of have to be really focused, and it has been a really useful thing to get into and try to do"
Scognamillo on the other hand brings a wealth of experience to the team. On August 1, 2009, at the age of 15, she became the youngest person to successfully swim across Lake Ontario. The previous year she set a record for being the fastest and youngest person to cross Lake Erie.
"It brings back so many memories, and it's been a great experience too because I feel like I was kind of asked to come on board to help motivate I guess, and just be someone there that has already done it. It's been great to just relive this with the whole team, as a different kind of experience."
Team coach Nancy Black was Scognamillo's coach while she was making history. Black's son Brendan who has worked with Special Olympics, wanted to do something to celebrate Canada 150 and recognize the Special Olympics anniversary. Out of many brainstorming sessions, the relay swim was born.
The team has surpassed its $50,000 fundraising goal by a few thousand dollars, but people can continue to help the cause by donating online at 50for150.com
