Incredible endurance
Kiwi swimmer conquers Golden Gate bridge challenge.
A NEW ZEALAND 38-year-old became the first woman to swim the 50km stretch from the Farallon Islands to the Golden Gate Bridge and conquer one of the world’s most dangerous crossings.
Kim Chambers, dived into the cold water late Friday (local time) and passed under the bridge about 17 hours later.
‘‘I had my whole crew just giving me the thumbs up. I can see the bridge and when you can see that you know you have to get there,’’ Chambers told KGO-TV. ‘‘I definitely had to dig really, really deep.’’
She was followed by a boat carrying her mother and about 16 crew members who watched for dangers.
Four men have completed the Farallon Island to Golden Gate swim. The stretch of water is notorious for great white sharks that are attracted to elephant seals on the cluster of islands off the San Francisco coast.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports Chambers planned her swim at a time when the seasonal shark population at the Farallones is typically away and only yearround ones would be present.
‘‘People think I’m crazy because there are sharks but that’s why I’m doing it,’’ Chambers told the newspaper. ‘‘That’s their habitat and they should be there. I think they’re magnificent creatures.’’
A former ballerina, Chambers took up swimming to rehabilitate from an accident in which she nearly lost a leg.
The New Zealand woman was the sixth person (and third woman) to complete the Ocean’s Seven, a collection of marathon swimming challenges, including the Strait of Gibraltar, the Molokai Channel in Hawaii, and the North Channel from northern Ireland to Scotland