Swimming Against Cancer

(August 7, 2002) Larry Spollen, home in Larchmont from a tour in Honduras as a Peace Corps volunteer, decided he hadn't done enough volunteering. On Saturday, he and scores of others helped raise money for cancer research and treatment by swimming across Long Island Sound.

Larry Spollen

"The course is about four miles long," Spollen said. "I finished it in about an hour and twenty minutes, which was better than I expected after not being near a pool for a year and a half."

A good time, but speed wasn't the point of this event. According to organizer Biffy Halliday of Larchmont, swimmers raise money by being sponsored, and the national group has raised over $1.5 million since 1987.

Swimmers sported event t-shirts which this year displayed a banner in memory of the four Swim Across America participants lost at the World Trade Center. Larchmont's John McErlean was honored in this way.

In addition to the Sound event, there was a pool swim at Saxon Woods on July 20 and at Orienta Beach Club on July 27. According to Halliday, at the Orienta pool, senior swimmer Arthur Tebbens completed his personal mile swim in memory of John Lee, long-time Village resident who contributed to the community in multiple ways.

For the Sound event, swimmers gathered at the Larchmont Yacht Club, loaded onto boats, and were taken out into the water near Execution Rock. They jumped in and began swimming back toward the Larchmont Shore Club's beach. "We could see the club's roof, and they had a big balloon in the air so we could see where we were headed," Spollen said.

Nearing the beach, Spollen was amazed to hear a huge roar coming from the crowd. "I didn't think they were cheering only for me," he said. Indeed, they weren't. The especially loud welcome was for the founder of Swim Across America, Jeff Keith, who lost a leg to bone cancer as a child and had just completed the swim.

Asked why he has done the cancer-fighting swim several times, Spollen said, "I did it because it's a fun day, with lots of familiar faces, and because you feel good raising money for cancer research. I don't know anybody who hasn't been touched in some way by cancer."

 

First place swimmer Tim Tully wades in.

Read more about the program and see more photos from this year's swim at the Swim Across America website.

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