Sports
Lincoln swimmer postpones retirement
By Nick Hodge
Staff Reporter
After completing 11 months of
extensive training for his successful
swim of the English Channel,
Lincoln’s Kris Rulford has postponed
his swimming retirement until after
he swims around Manhattan Island at
the end of the
On Aug. 5
Rutford became
one of only 332
swimmers in his
tory to success
fully swim acrost
the channel.
Rutford’s trium
phant attempt at
the channel cov- Rutford
ered a span of 27.6 miles in a lime of
10 hours and 44 minutes.
For Rutford’s attempt to be
deemed successful, he had toenter the
channel at Shakespeare Beach in
England, swim across the channel
without any assistance and walk out
of the water on the shores of France.
To make a legal, recognized cross
ing of the channel, Rutford had to hire
a boat to gu ide him across. He also had
to pay a fee of authentication to the
Channel Swimming Association,
which governs all attempted cross
ings made in the channel.
Rutford, 28, said he was pleased
with the outcome of his channel
swim. Rutford said only about five
people have successfully swam
across the channel this yearl’Whcn I
landed on the beach in France, there
were people clapping for me,” Rut
ford said. “It happened so fast, I really
didn’t know what had happened.”
Rutford began training for his
channel swim last September by
swimming 50 miles. He increased his
endurance to 110 miles in December,
then swam 135 miles in June. As his
workouts progressed, he made sev
eral long-duration swims, including a
12-hour swim at Branched Oak Lake.
Rutford, a 1981 graduate of Ne
braska and a former member of the
Comhuskcr swimming team, said his
methods of training must have
worked because his body felt good,
despite the rough waters and distance
of the swim.
“During the swim, my muscles
were sore, but nothing I couldn’t
overcome,” he said. “The next day, I
felt good considering what I’d just
done. My training must have been
right on line. I feel fine now. I felt fine
two days later.”
The best tides for making attempts
tocross the channel exist from July to
September. During this period, the
channel’s water temperature ranges
from 58 to 60-degrees. Rutford said
the air temperature was equal to that
of the water, which made it better on
his body.
“The air and water temperature
were the same so there was no great
shock to my body, like if there would
have been a 20-degree difference,” he
said.
Rutford said an encounter with
jellyfish was one element of the chan
nel that he knew existed, but one that
he never thought would actually hap
pen.
“It (jellyfish) was really a sur
prise,” he said. “I never really thought
I’d really run into any. Even though I
never got slung, they did get me ex
cited. I was scared, but I swam
through them and just kept going. I
only hit one or two.”
Rutford said he had no plans for
further swims until a man he met in
England talked him into entering the
Aug. 27 race around Manhattan Is
land, which will cover 28 miles.
“1 didn’t plan to do the Manhattan
swim until this guy I met over there
(England) talked me into, or encour
aged, me into doing it,” Rutford said.
“I didn’t decide to do it until I got back
to tnc states, tnen 1 canea me guy up
and had him enter me in the race.”
Rulford said the short notice of
entering the Manhattan swim makes
him nervous.
“I'm a little nervous about the
mental aspect of the Manhattan race,”
Rutford said. “I haven’t had a year to
think about this race like I did the
channel.
“I don’t know anything about this
Manhattan thing, whereas I knew alot
about the channel and what to expect.
It’ll be totally different.”
Rutford plans to enjoy his trip and
swim in the New York area.
“I’m going to relax during the
Manhattan swim and enjoy it,” Rut
ford said. “It’s suppose to be enjoy
able because of the skyline. Whereas,
the channel had nothing to look at. It
was a foggy day and I really couldn’t
see anything. It was kind of boring.”
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