A strong headwind and lots of recreational boat traffic on the course made for an unusually challenging running of the Boston Light Swim on Saturday, August 10. The annual 8-mile Boston Light Swim is a perennial favorite among marathon swimmers around the world.
Twenty-three solo endurance swimmers and six relay teams started the race under sunny skies and a light breeze at 9 am just off of Little Brewster Island in the shadow of America’s first lighthouse, the Boston Light. The field soon stretched out along the 8-mile course that winds amid the Boston Harbor Islands National Park, with Eric Nilsson, the 2012 winner of the event, breaking out to an early lead.
Nilsson, a Boston-area native currently residing in Honolulu, HI, never let the lead slip, and finished in a stellar 2 hours 45 minutes and 51 seconds. He was followed by Rob Jones of Charlottesville, VA, who ran up on shore some 17 minutes later. The third place male finisher was Richard McKern of Summit, NJ, finishing in 3:09:35.
On the women’s side, Allyson Parent of Tewksbury, MA, arrived at the historic L-Street Bathhouse first in a time of 3:18:31. Devon Dear of Somerville, MA, was second in 4:20:09.
Because of strong tidal flows, the Boston Light Swim has an unforgiving 5-hour course limit; any swimmers who haven’t finished the course within that time frame are automatically listed as not finishing. This is an unfortunate fact of life with this swim, and as the wind speed continued to rise throughout the morning and into the early afternoon, 50% of the field found themselves running much closer to that time limit than they would have under more favorable weather conditions.
“The morning started out beautifully—a little breezy, but very swimmable,” says Race Director Greg O’Connor, “but as sometimes happens in the harbor, the wind kicked up, and that made for an exceedingly difficult slog for many of the swimmers. The fastest swimmers were able to beat the conditions in, but for some of the slower competitors, these factors conspired to end their races sooner than they or the staff of the Boston Light Swim would like to have seen happen.”
When time expired, 10 solo swimmers and one relay team were still on the course and had to be removed from the unusually warm-for-Boston water, which ranged from 62 to 66 degrees F.
“It’s a heartbreak for all of us,” O’Connor says. “But that’s the nature of open water swimming. Some days are perfect and others are much more challenging. This was a very challenging year in the Boston Light Swim.”
The historic race, dubbed the “Granddaddy of Open Water Swims,” began in 1907 and is the oldest continually contested open water swim in the country today.
The staff of the Boston Light Swim would like to thank our sponsors: the Massachusetts Open Water Swimming Association (MOWSA), Hammer Nutrition, Finis, and Harpoon Brewery.
For more information, visit us online at www.bostonlightswim.org. For media inquiries, please contact: Race Director, Greg O’Connor, atgoconnor@
Solo Results
First Name Last Name Gender Place Time (H:MM.SS)
Eric Nilsson M 1 2:45:51
Rob Jones M 2 3:02:08
Richard McKern M 3 3:09:35
Allyson Parent F 4 3:18:31
Andrew Jones M 5 3:18:56
Zachary Cordero M 6 3:21:42
Bob Burrow M 7 3:49:27
Elias Falcon M 8 3:59:35
Kim Garbarino M 9 4:08:51
Jonathan Gladstone M 10 4:15:37
Devon Dear F 11 4:20:09
James Haynes M 12 4:50:54
Courtney Paulk F DNF
Richard Sweeney M DNF
Sylvia Marino F DNF
Tom Currier M DNF
David Kilroy M DNF
Francis O’loughlin M DNF
Don Debaker M DNF
Lynne Mulkerrin F DNF
Maura Twomey F DNF
Jia Jung F DNF
Relay Results
Team Name/ Bib First Name Last Name Place Time (H:MM:SS)
Team Trident 1 3:32:24
31 Bill Geary
31 Katie O’Dair
Tuff Competitor 2 4:01:37
26 Kari Kastango
26 Stephen Gillis
26 Peter Gillis
Sibling Rivalry 3 4:02:01
27 Nicole Glazer
27 Benjamin Glazer
Coney Island Stowaways 4 4:24:19
30 David Cook
30 Silverio Bracaglia
30 John Daprato
SOS 5 4:39:42
28 Michael Garr
28 Brian Gardner
28 Donald Sorterup
28 Jon Cooper
Boston Cods DNF
29 Anita Loughlin
29 Giulia Norton
29 Wendy McDanolds
29 Margie Shaughnessy
This unedited release was provided to swimswam.
