Don’t look for any complex strategy from Page Beecher at Saturday’s Peaks-to-Portland Swim. The defending champ has just one thought while he’s out on the water: “Swim fast.”
The 19-year-old Scarborough resident, who has finished in the top 10 for the past three years, says that he is confident that he has the training to once again be near the front of the pack.
“I swim six days a week with a US Swim team,” says Beecher, who now attends Alfred University in upstate New York. “But this is a totally different experience for me because I’m used to swimming in a pool. The waves can be an issue, and you get a few mouthfuls of salt water.”
Beecher is one of 10 Scarborough residents who will be attempting to cross the channel in the 24th edition of the 2.4-mile race, which benefits the Cumberland County YMCA. Cape Elizabeth will be represented by 19 swimmers, while three of the athletes hail from South Portland.
Cape’s Pamela Stevens has done the Peaks several times, some at very different levels of preparedness.
“(In 2003) I didn’t train and it was hard!” she says. “All I wanted to do was get to the other side. Last year I trained and cut 25 minutes off my time.”
Stevens, 42 and a mother of three, adds that one of the motivations is that “it’s really great for my kids to see me doing something crazy. Safe – but a little crazy.”
Lynn Smith of Scarborough, also 42, is hoping that this week’s hot weather will warm up the ocean water, making the trek more comfortable. Her husband, Scott, missed the registration this year and will serve as her kayaker.
“There’s a great sense of accomplishment when you get to the other side,” says Smith, who is in the race for the third time. “Although there is also the seaweed factor – I don’t enjoy getting it in my mouth.”
Jeff Armstrong, 60, has been enjoying the Casco Bay swim for so long that he can’t remember precisely how many times he’s done it, though he’s sure it’s around 20.
“My daughter was born the day after the race in 1986,” the Cape Elizabeth resident said. “My wife was eight months pregnant out on the water yelling and screaming. I think that contributed to my daughter arriving early.”
Sixteen years later, Armstrong’s daughter, Schuyler, beat her father in her first Peaks.
“I used to do the race non-wetsuit,” he says. “Now I just hope I make it!”
In contrast to Armstrong is Grady Jackson, 18, who will be swimming the event for the first time. A recent graduate of Cape Elizabeth High School, Jackson has done triathlons for four years.
“I want to come as close as I can to Page Beecher,” says Jackson, whose 59-year-old father, Ed, is also in the race.
Lauren Tully, 23, a native of South Portland who now lives and works in Boston, is returning to swim the course again after participating in last year’s event.
“I’d done a couple one-milers, so I was a bit nervous because this is longer,” says Tully, who swims a number of races with her uncle, George Shanahan. “It’s by far one of the most fun things I’ve done. I find swimming in the ocean relaxing.”
The challenge for Tina Pettingill is entering the cold ocean.
“Once you get used to the shock of the water, it’s a beautiful swim,” says the Scarborough resident. “The channel has been very calm the past two years.”
Pettingill adds that the swim motivates her to be more active.
“It gets me in the water and forces me to get in shape,” she says.
Scarborough’s Jonathan Cahill has been in the Peaks five times, but the 58-year-old is going to have to sit this one out due to an injury.
“I’m really disappointed, but I’m hoping to have surgery done so I can swim next year,” he says. “I was going to do the race anyway, but the surgeon said it wasn’t a good idea.”
Cahill was a phys ed teacher in the town’s elementary schools for 30 years and he had Beecher, last year’s winner, as a student. He’ll be rooting for his former pupil from the shore.
The 160 swimmers will depart from Peaks Island at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, with the leaders reaching Portland’s East End at about 9:10. More than 125 kayakers will also join in the event.
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