Carvin, Heckman Sweep La Jolla Roughwater

By Phillip Whitten

LA JOLLA, California, September 8. SOME people swim in the popular La Jolla Roughwater for the fun of it, some for the challenge.

Not Chad Carvin. He does it for the money, and he's not shy about letting you know. "The only reason I entered was for the $1,000 prize."

Actually, there were two races and two $500 prizes. To win the modest $1,000 on offer, Carvin had to win both races.

He did.

A 2000 Olympic silver medalist in the 800 meter freestyle relay, the 29 year-old Carvin began by winning the one-mile event in 17 minutes, 29.90 seconds. An hour later he came back to win the feature Gatorman 3-mile in 55:57.8. South African Olympian Ryk Neethling was second in both races, clocking 17:37.80 and 56:00.80.

On the women's side, 26 year-old Dawn Heckman duplicated Carvin's feat, taking the one-mile race in 19:49.90 and the 3-mile Gatorman in 1:01.16.50. Heckman won by more than two minutes over Karen Guerin (21:59.10) in the one mile, but in the longer race 41 year-old Karlyn Pipes-Neilsen made it much closer, with the final margin only 39.5 seconds.

Some 2,000 swimmers participated in the 73rd annual La Jolla Roughwater swim.

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