This past August, Elaine Kornbau Howley broke a 41-year-old record for the fastest Double Crossing of the Boston Harbor. She was only the second female to ever complete the cold water course (ranging between 59 and 63 degrees) and the fifth swimmer to ever attempt it. Howley completed the 16-mile out-and-back swim along the annual Boston Light Swim course in 7 hours, 7 minutes, 48 seconds, breaking Jim Doty's 1969 record by 2 hours, 23 minutes.
In July 1984, Howley, now 32, was dealt a nasty blow: her younger sister Rachel died of Leukemia at age three. Howley was only eight at the time and had been the bone marrow donor in the transplant that signaled a last-ditch attempt to save Rachel's young life. Howley was devastated and felt inadequate for not being able to save her sister.
But Howley had always been a swimmer, and soon, it was the swimming that pulled her out of a fog and helped her get back on track. ... It still is, and Howley has become one of the most accomplished open water marathon swimmers in the world over the past several years.
"Swimming has been therapeutic for me," Howley told StrengthUSA.com. "I like being out in the ocean and part of something bigger than myself. It helps me put things in perspective and reflect on what's really important in this world."
Howley has been a competitive swimmer since the age of five and began long-distance open water marathoning in 2006. She tackled her first ever open water marathon on a dare and finished second among the women in 3 hours, 37 minutes, 35 seconds in the 2006 Boston Light Swim, an eight-mile race from Little Brewster Island to South Boston. The competition began in 1908 and is known as "The Granddaddy of American Open Water Swims."
"After that race, I was hooked on marathon open water swimming," Howley said. "Open water swims gave me a new focus. And as it turned out, I was really good at [them]."
From the 2006 Boston Light Swim, Howley began testing the waters in longer swims. She competed in the 2007 Around Key West Swim, a 12.5 mile trek around the South Florida island. Two weeks later, she took part in the 41K Lake George Swim, a professional race from one end of Lake George to the other.
"I struggled a lot emotionally, as well as physically, and I think I slayed a few demons out there," Howley said. "Swimming for 12 hours straight and feeling like you could just keep going forever does wonders for how you view yourself."
From there, Howley began dreaming bigger and set her sights on the English Channel. But first, she wanted to make sure she would be ready. On the advice of open water legend Dale Petranach, Howley signed up for a solo, one-way crossing of the Catalina Channel, a 21-mile swim between Catalina Island and the mainland of Southern California. On September 22, 2008, Howley became only the 158th person to ever complete the Catalina Channel. Her time of 10 hours, 57 minutes, 44 seconds, landed Howley under her goal time of 11 hours.
Howley decided to apply for entry into the 2009 Manhattan Island Marathon Swim, a 28.5 mile circumnavigation of the island of Manhattan -- one of the most widely respected and watched open water events in the United States. On June 6, 2009, she completed the swim comfortably in 8 hours, 39 minutes, 50 seconds.
Then, it was on to the English Channel to complete the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming, consisting of the Catalina Channel, the English Channel and the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim. On August 3, 2009, Howley swam into the record books when she landed on the beach at Wissant, France, having completed the English Channel in 13 hours, 55 minutes. She was only the 32nd person to ever complete all three swims of the Triple Crown.
"It's a real achievement, for sure, but I still feel like there's so much more out there that I could be doing and that I would like to attempt," Howley said.
Look for Howley to attempt a 44-mile swim around Long Beach Island in New Jersey and a double crossing of the Straits of Gibraltar in 2011. For more information or to keep up with what's next, visit Howley's blog, "Tales of the Beer Baby" at: http://blog.talesofthebeerbaby.com/.
