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Five women to attempt to swim length of Lake Ontario in a marathon relay
From left to right, Colleen Shields, Mona Sharari, Nicole Mallette, Rebekah Boscariol and Samantha Whiteside. (Image: Facebook )
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Saturday, July 20, 2013, 4:53 PM - Five women will attempt to swim across Lake Ontario lengthwise starting Tuesday morning, in a grueling 305 km relay they expect will take five straight days of non-stop swimming.
The swim will begin at 10 a.m. EDT in Kingston, Ontario and is expected to end in Burlington, Ontario.
The women - who range in age from 18 to 61 - will swim in two-hour shifts through the day and night, sleeping and eating on an entourage of sailboats and zodiacs.
All of the women are accomplished long-distance solo swimmers. Colleen Shields, 61, Nicole Mallette, 48, Samantha Whiteside, 23 and Rebekah Boscariol, 18, have successfully completed the Lake Ontario crossing.
Eighteen-year-old Mona Sharari, the youngest member of the group, swam across the English Channel last year.
The length-wise crossing has never been completed, but the solo crossing from Niagara-on-the-Lake to Toronto has been completed 57
times, the majority of them by women.
The crossing was first completed by Marilyn Bell in 1954, when she was 16-years-old.
To learn more about the swim and to make a donation, visit
www.BecauseGirlsCan.ca or 'like' their
Facebook page.
