SANDY HOOK, New Jersey, October 23. NANCY Steadman-Martin, 56, and Michelle Davidson, 36, completed the inaugural 17.5-mile Ederle Swim on Saturday. <\/p>\n
With water temperatures in the low-60's, Steadman-Martin stopped the clock in 5 hours, 53 minutes and 12 seconds. Meanwhile, Davidson finished the epic swim in 6 hours and 27 minutes while battling four-to-six foot swells.<\/p>\n
"Very early on, these ladies clearly demonstrated they had the dedication and commitment to conquering the elements and the course." Morty Berger, Founder, Manhattan Island Foundation and the swim's sponsor, said. "Though the conditions were unsafe for kayaker support, the Foundation's boaters had the right seasoning to safely support these swimmers on this very challenging day. Due to the adverse conditions, Lead Boat Captain Earl Sandvik said he would have ended the event if there were more than two swimmers, and if, the swimmers had not already successfully completed both the English Channel and Manhattan Island Marathon Swim."<\/p>\n
A small flotilla including escort boats and United States Coast Guard ships accompanied the pair. The two encountered cruise ships, sail boats and tankers. Twice, they yielded the right-of-way to freighters.<\/p>\n
"We were treated to an unbelievable display of speed, just north of the Verranzano Narrows Bridge off Bay Ridge, Brooklyn," Tim Johnson, founder of the swim, said. "Nancy and Michelle were timed at six knots over a one-mile section. Both arrived at the VN Bridge just six minutes behind the pace set by the current record holder, Tammy van Wisse of Australia. English Channel conditions prevailed: four-foot seas rocked the swimmers during their final two miles of the swim."<\/p>\n
The swim paid tribute to a swim more than 80 years in the past. In 1925, Manhattan native Gertrude Ederle swam from the Battery in lower Manhattan to Sandy Hook, N.J., in seven hours and eleven minutes, setting a record that stood until the summer of 2006.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SANDY HOOK, New Jersey, October 23. NANCY Steadman-Martin, 56, and Michelle Davidson, 36, completed the inaugural 17.5-mile Ederle Swim on Saturday. With water temperatures in the low-60's, Steadman-Martin stopped the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-masters","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n