‘Stubborn’ swimmer eyes becoming oldest person to cross Lake Ontario
Three words will ring in Tom Bartlett’s ears three weeks from now as, weather and aching limbs willing, the Waterloo resident swims across Lake Ontario.
Three words to repeat over 300,000 arm strokes.
They came from the lips of his childhood hero, Marilyn Bell.
“Never give up,” said Bartlett, repeating the advice he got from Bell, the first person to swim across Lake Ontario, when they met for the first time just two Septembers ago.
Bartlett, who turns 72 on Saturday, aims to follow Bell’s counsel and become the oldest person on record to swim 51 kilometres across Lake Ontario, from Niagara-on-the-Lake to Marilyn Bell Park in Toronto.
He hopes Bell might be there for the ceremony celebrating his successful swim. He knows Bell, 80, will be keeping track of his progress.
Sixty-four years ago, Bartlett kept track of her open-water exploits.
Bartlett was just eight years old, growing up in Galt and swimming 33-yard lengths at George Hancock Pool when Bell, just 16, made the Lake Ontario crossing in 20 hours and 55 minutes.
He swore a silent oath back then. He would one day swim across the same lake, just like Bell. It’s a vow he has never given up.
“I’m pretty stubborn,” said Bartlett, whose Solo Swims of Ontario window for his crossing is Aug. 28 to 30, with fallback dates Sept. 14 and 15.
Maybe Bartlett can do it in well under a day, just like Bell did in 1954.
He watched her emerge from the lake on a black-and-white television back then. Finally, at an open-water training session in Oakville two years ago, he met his idol.
“I was so nervous, she gave me goosebumps,” Bartlett recalled on Tuesday between training swims on Georgian Bay near the Thornbury cottage of his son Malcolm.
“She’s a wonderful woman. She’s so encouraging.”
Bartlett will take all the encouragement he can get. He will also dig deep into his emptying reservoir of patience.
Two years ago, after becoming the oldest person to swim 19 kilometres across Lake Erie in under eight hours, he was ready to tackle Lake Ontario. He never got the chance. Four times, he was cancelled. Lightning, storms, cold currents and a fast-fading summer kept him from making his attempt under the sanctioning eye of safety-conscious Solo Swims.
A year ago, personal matters kept him from trying again.
This year? He’s ready. He married Steph, his decade-long partner, in May. He’s been training two or three hours a day with Malcolm, 40, serving as his coach. His three-boat team is picked. His six-hour trial swim last weekend was a success. The experience of working a boat motor for Elizabeth Fry last September (the 58-year-old American crossed in under 16 hours) was illuminating.
Bartlett learned how important good lighting is for swimmers at night.
“It’s pitch black out there,” he said. “That person can disappear in a hurry.”
So could his hopes of fulfilling his childhood vow. A few days of bad weather or a cramped muscle could end his bid to be just like Bell. And then what? Is it this summer or never for Bartlett, who ran his first marathon at age 50, to conquer Lake Ontario?
“I might not be able to do it next year,” Bartlett said. “The hardest part of this is keeping focused for three years. My dream has always been this since I was nine years old. That’s something you can keep in your head. But being focused for the actual training is the hardest part.”
Bartlett, with a 72-candle cake burning, insists he is focused. He wants to be the oldest to swim across Lake Ontario.
New Yorker Bill Sadlo, the oldest man, did it at 57 in 1957. Pat Gallant-Charette, a retired nurse from Maine, did it at 66 just a year ago. Her time was 24 hours and 28 minutes.
Malcolm wants to see his dad pass his ultimate test of time.
“It’s my father and he’s going for something that’s pretty incredible,” Malcolm said. “These are bucket-list things and life goals. If someone can keep a life goal and push on with that for the duration, pursue it and get other people involved, it really opens up a whole bunch of eyes.”