Swimming the Hudson

Long-distance swimmers David Barra and Rondi Davies will present “Swimming the Hudson.” In 2011 the pair introduced the first annual “8 Bridges Hudson River Swim,” a 120-mile/ 7-stage swim event — the longest in the world.  With  Davies and Coney Island Open Water Swimmers (CIBBOWS) Barra brought the “2 Bridges Swim,” a 5K swim race to the Hudson River in Poughkeepsie, and will host a US Masters Swimming 10K National Championship event in 2014.  Barra has been competing in open water swimming events since 1998 and has focused on long distance for the past several years. In 2010 he completed 7 of the 30 “World Swimming Majors” events including the Maui Channel, the Tampa Bay Marathon Swim, the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim (MIMS), the Catalina Channel, the Boston Light Swim, the English Channel, and the Ederle Swim. A geologist, Davies is a research associate at the American Museum of Natural History and adjunct lecturer at City University New York.  She grew up in Papua New Guinea and Australia, where swimming is a way of life. In 2011, she completed five of the seven stages of “8 Bridges,” and in 2012 completed the full event. She has notched wins in marathon swims in Long Island Sound and Lake Memphremagog, Vermont and holds the women’s record of 5:44, for the fastest Manhattan Island circumnavigation.

The Yonkers Paddling and Rowing Club (YPRC) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the paddling community and recreation on the Hudson River in Yonkers. Visit www.yprc.org.

The Sarah Lawrence College Center for the Urban River at Beczak (CURB), formerly the Beczak Environmental Education Center, is a hub for research and education about the Hudson River, and rivers generally, within the urban environment. CURB was launched in June 2013 as an alliance of Sarah Lawrence College and the Hudson River Valley Environmental Education Institute. Please visit www.centerfortheurbanriver.org.