David Barra developed a love for the open water as a lifeguard from 1981-1985 at Brooklyn, New York’s Manhattan Beach (an extension of Coney Island and Brighton Beach). He moved to NY’s Mid-Hudson Valley in 1988 and was fortunate to have several pristine glacial lakes nearby. He would use them to swim for leisure, and to cool down during a long hike or mountain bike ride.
But it would be 10 years later that Barra discovered the Shawangunk Masters Swimming Association -- a workout group of the Adirondack Masters region -- and would start to train and swim competitively. Since then, he’s been competing in open water at the masters level since 1998, mostly in 1-mile through 5k races, often squeezing 2 or 3 events into every weekend of the 4-month season.
But in 2008, Barra’s training was interrupted with the diagnosis of an Atrial Septal Defect (ASD). His heart was repaired at Columbia Presbyterian on January 6, 2009 and shortly after that Barra began to focus his training toward long distance marathon swimming. In return, 2010 was a paramount year for Barra as he received the good fortune to complete 7 classics in 8 months. They are listed in the article below by Steve Munatones, The Daily News of Open Water Swimming: Dave Barra Just Can’t Get Enough, 9/2/2011:
"There were rumors that 45-year-old Dave Barra was training hard -- really hard -- during the cold winter months in New York's Mid Hudson Valley. Besides the hours in the pool, he was also reportedly getting acclimated to sub-10 C (50 F) water at nearby lakes and focused on coordinating his travel plans and logistics.
And those plans and hours and hours of training and planning paid off. His accomplishments this year have been nothing short of remarkable.
His season started off in the warm, tropical waters of the Maui Channel between the islands of Lanai and Maui on March 21st when he completed the 9.6-mile (15.4K) channel in 4 hours and 55 minutes.
He then followed that up with a 24-mile (38.6K) second-place finish at the Tampa Bay Marathon Swim in Florida on April 17th where he finished in 10 hours and 49 minutes.
After a rest of 8 weeks on June 12th, Dave continued to hammer away by swimming 28.5 miles (45.8K) in the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim in New York where he finished 15th in 8 hours and 30 minutes -- the first leg of his Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming.
Then the 21-mile (33.7K) Catalina Channel in California was next on July 20th with a 15 hour and 37 minute swim in tough conditions -- on his second leg of his Triple Crown.
In preparation for more cold-water swims, Dave then competed in the 8-mile (12.8K) Boston Light Swim in Massachusetts on August 14th with a 7th-place finish in 3:00:31 in the 59 F (15 C) water.
Then on September 1st, Dave officially joined the Triple Crown club with a 14 hour and 27 minute crossing of the English Channel. Between June 12th and September 1st, Dave has reportedly completed the Triple Crown in the second shortest time period ever (81 days to Rendy Lynn Opdyke's 35-day record).
But Dave is not ready to rest on his laurels: he has at least one more marathon swim under his belt this year, the 17.5-mile (28.1K) Ederle Swim from New York to New Jersey.
Not since the heyday of International Marathon Swimming Hall of Famers Michael Read and Kevin Murphy has the marathon swimming world been graced by a working man and amateur swimmer so prolific and successful as Dave Barra (129.6 miles or 208K total in one season).
Humble, passionate and committed, Dave represents the good and the positive of the sport." Copyright © 2010 by Steven Munatones.
This summer, Barra will attempt to establish a week long swim odyssey that covers 120 miles of the Hudson River, which attracts the world’s best marathon and adventure swimmers for a test against the majestic river. He will be raising funds for www.cibbows.org, www.launch5.org, and Riverkeeper’s water sampling project.
But Barra’s quest for greatness doesn’t stop there. He’s planning a solo 60-mile swim of Lake Travis in Austin, Texas in November.
"[This] might be a mid-life crisis," Barra told StrengthUSA.com, "but I plan to ride it out as long as I can."
