At his mother’s insistence, Greg O’Connor’s father taught him how to swim at the age of four. But it was not until he was an adult that O’Connor, 43, learned that his mother never knew how to swim.
O’Connor began swimming during the summer months off the southern shore of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, later becoming a competitive swimmer for the local YMCA, high school team and later at Gettysburg College. “I learned how to manage my time and focus on goals during these years in the pool,” O’Connor told StrengthUSA.com. “The skills and discipline that I gained early in life have helped me at work and play in my adult life.”
Building on the skills and discipline from his youth, O’Connor has become an accomplished open-water swimmer over the past six years. “I have become a healthy, fit individual, which was my ultimate goal,” he said. “Open-water swimmers are a tight community. I have made many close friends over the past years, helping many of them realize their goals through co-training and individual coaching.”
But O’Connor has also felt a strong need to give back to the community. He’s volunteered during the MIMS in 2009 and 2010, and for the Boston Light Swim in 2007 -- an 8-mile, cold water swim in Boston Harbor. The race has a history that dates back over 100 years. In 2009, he became the race director of the event. “I have put together a committee of accomplished athletes, and we have brought the event into the 21st century,” O’Connor said. “In the future, we plan on forming a non-profit association that will sanction and assist swimmers in attempts to swim out to Boston Light and back, a 16-plus-mile feat in sub-60 degree water.”
In March 2010, O’Connor’s father was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Overcome with emotion, O’Connor attempted to move forward, after contemplation a hiatus. In August 2010, Elaine Howley, who has achieved the Triple Crown in swimming, and O’Connor set out to break a long-standing swim record set by Jim Doty in 1969. They planned a solo swim in Boston Harbor from South Boston to Boston Light, out to Little Brewster Island, and back. The swim is 16 miles in cold, unpredictable waters. Only four people in history had successfully completed the swim, and Jim Doty held the record of 9 hours 30 minutes. “Elaine and I planned to start in the middle of an ebb tide at 3:40 in the morning,” O’Connor said. “We hoped that we could set a new record with a time around eight hours.” Swimming side-by-side, pacing each other, the duo ended up shattering Doty's time with a new record of 7 hours 7 minutes.
Following the Boston Harbor record swim, O’Connor attempted his first channel crossing, completing the Catalina Channel in 9 hours 26 minutes and qualifying for the 2011 Manhattan Island Marathon Swim. “The Catalina Channel solo swim is known for its warm waters, but 2010 saw historically low water temperatures between Santa Catalina Island and the mainland,” he said. “Many swimmers who attempted the crossing had to be pulled out due to hypothermia. I was lucky. Having trained in the Boston area I was used to the cold conditions. And I had the best possible crew.”
“I considered stopping my training, but I had found that the time that I am training in the pool or in open-water is physically and emotionally necessary during this ordeal,” O’Connor said. “My father got to see the results of my first channel crossing and he shared in the news when I was accepted into the 2011 Manhattan Island Swim.” Sadly, O’Connor’s father passed away on December 9, 2010 and did not get to share in the swim around Manhattan.
O’Connor’s next goal is to swim the full length of Lake Memphremagog, which spans the border between the United States and Canada. “Ever since 9/11, the Department of Homeland Security has prevented swims in the lake from crossing the border,” O’Connor said. “With the permission of the US and Canadian governments, 10 years after 9/11, a handful of select swimmers will reopen the border.”
