There was no fog this week, but there was sun and lots of it.
The 25th annual Peaks to Portland Swim went off as scheduled – rescheduled, actually – Saturday morning under a sunny sky. And, as a result, there were some tired swimmers coming ashore at Portland’s East End Beach.
“The first few inches (of the water) were warm because of the heat,” said Joe Sheehan, who won the race in 46 minutes and 18 seconds after coming from Massachusetts for the second straight Saturday. “You had to keep diving down because that sun would bake you.”
Margaret Pizer was the top female finisher and the only woman in the overall top 10, coming ashore seventh with a time of 52:42.
The event saw 116 swimmers traverse Casco Bay from Peaks Island, down because of the one-week postponement from the nearly 200 originally registered for the swim, which benefits the Cumberland County YMCA.
Among those missing were two-time defending champion Page Beecher, who had another swimming commitment.
Like most swimmers, Westbrook’s Tom Charette, wore a wet suit for the race. With the water and sun as warm as they were, though, he wished he hadn’t.
“It was way too warm, especially in the middle of the bay,” said Charette (63:07), a Westbrook High School graduate who is going to San Francisco in September for the Alcatraz Swim. “It was the sun and a slack tide. There was nothing out there, nothing moving.”
That didn’t stop Jake Wilson from beating last-year’s finish. Wilson (49:41), 17, swims for the Westbrook Seals – a club team formerly coached by Charette. He was the top local finisher, coming in second place, just after Sheehan.
“I swam it last year and came in third,” said Wilson. “My goal was first place, but there’s always next year, I guess.”
There won’t be a next year for Saco swimmer Mark Strickland.
“I am really glad it’s over,” said Strickland, who was one of the few swimmers not to wear a wet suit.
Strickland (77:08) swam in the first YMCA Peaks-to-Portland 25 years ago when he was 14 years old, swimming on a club team and life guarding at the Y. This year’s experience was a bit different.
“It was a lot harder,” he said with a smile. “I’m just not in the shape that I used to be, and I didn’t train probably as much as I could’ve. But my personal goal was just to finish it. I’m really glad I did it.
“I think maybe when 50 approaches I’ll think about it again, but I feel like I’ve had my fill of it for now.”
The experience was also different than what Cape Elizabeth’s Alice Evans was expecting.
“I don’t know if you could call it fun, but I’m obviously very glad I did it,” said Evans (66:28), a first-timer. “I feel like it was a big accomplishment, but it wasn’t anything like what I expected it to be. I expected it to go by faster. Once you’re on the other side of Fort Gorges, I think you feel it’s kind of like the home stretch, but you’re so far.”
Like Evans, Scarborough’s Ryan Stoddard (57:27), a veteran triathlon competitor, started feeling the burn when he got past Fort Gorges.
“My muscles were fatigued toward the end, probably the last half mile or so,” he said. “But once I saw the finish line it gave me a little more motivation.”
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