Loved that murky water

Dozens get kick out of Charles race
July 22, 2007, The Boston Globe
By Claire Cummings

Dozens of men in Speedos and women in one-piece bathing suits lined up yesterday morning on the dock for the race. The toned -- and the not-so-toned -- swimmers hopped in place to warm their muscles while peering into the greenish-brown waters.

But this was no ordinary swim, nor ordinary water. They were about to plunge into the Charles River -- Boston's historically dingy waterway that has not seen swimmers in more than half a century. The water temperature hovered in the mid-70s and it was, as always, murky, but that did not stop 69 people from braving that infamous dirty water.

To some, the morning jaunt was just another athletic feat. But for many Bostonians, the one-mile loop signified hope for a swimmable Charles -- once a forbidden and unthinkable summer activity.

Amy Walsh's father was born and raised in Cambridge and swam there in the 1950s. He loved it, and did not know any better, she said. "You just never know what it's going to be like -- the winds, the currents. Is everyone going to be on top of each other? " said Walsh, 31, of Belmont, before yesterday's swim. "I realize that they wouldn't allow this to happen if it weren't safe to swim."

Just last week, reports of algae growth threatened the event, which was canceled last year when the same toxic substance bloomed. But state health and environmental officials gave the thumbs-up a day before the gunshot. The fastest male swimmer, Sebastian Neumayer, clocked in at 20 minutes, 20 seconds; and the fastest female, Emily Sutliff, finished at 21 minutes, 46 seconds. The last swimmer touched the dock after 45 minutes,28 seconds.

"I came from Switzerland in '78 and swimming in the Charles has been my dream ever since," said Renata von Tscharner, 58, founder and president of the Charles River Conservancy, as she watched the swim from the dock. "Imagine if every urban American river became swimmable, what that would change."

"We were a little nervous," said Judy Misiak, 54, of Connecticut who brought a small bottle of Scope mouthwash for her daughter, Jodie, to use after the race. "And she's number 13 , so we were a little unhappy about that."

But her daughter, 28, of New York City, said that it was a pleasant swim and that her skin felt clean.

"We'll see if it starts to glow later," her mother said.

Swimmers frequented the river before the 1950s when the effects of pollutants that found their way into the water were realized. A multimillion-dollar cleanup in the past decades has since brought the river back to swimmable conditions on some days. But it is difficult to control toxins and objects that pollute a waterway that slices through a highly populated region. Tom Barry, who patrolled the waters in a speedboat yesterday, said that in his 13 years on the State Police dive team, he had helped uncover murder weapons, cars, and about 50 human bodies.

But the condition, and possible contents, of the water was not a concern for many of the swimmers, especially those who often compete in open-water swims.

Dressed in a T-shirt over a wet suit, James Raybould, 29, of London stood stretching his arms above his head with a long, elastic band before the swim. "I'm nervous about a couple cuts on my feet and the odd chance I get kicked in the head," said Raybould, who attends Harvard. "The Charles cleanliness doesn't inspire me."

Michael Welsch said he has plenty of skin space left to tattoo his latest triumph. He ran the Boston Marathon and swam the 8-mile Boston Light Swim Marathon several times and tattooed the city's famous Citgo sign and a lighthouse on his shoulder blades in honor of his accomplishments.

The Burlington resident, 48, who has a prosthetic leg, started swimming for rehabilitation after he lost his left leg in a 1978 motorcycle accident. He said that he had driven under the influence of alcohol and that he is fortunate to have survived.

"Will I be back next year?" Welsch said. "I'm always back."