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Great
Lakes Swimmer Announces Massive Finale
Two-Year Preservation Tour and Film Project Kicks Off With Earth
Day Event (Byron Center,
Michigan) Ultra-marathon athlete Jim Dreyer announced today that in June
of 2008, he plans to embark on an attempt to swim the entire length of the
Great Lakes basin from Duluth, Minnesota, to Cape Vincent, New York, at
the mouth of the St. Lawrence Seaway. Entitled Clear to the Seaway,
this unprecedented event will likely serve as the grand finale of Dreyer’s
Great Lakes series, and will cap a two-year project called the Great
Lakes Preservation Tour. The tour will kick off with a 2007 Earth Day
event in Traverse City, Michigan, on April 22nd. Dreyer’s 2007 and 2008
swimming journeys will be an effort to create awareness for Great Lakes
environmental concerns, and will also be the subject of a feature-length
documentary film or multi-part mini series produced by Vince Deur
Productions, called Before the Autumn Gales. “The purpose of
swimming clear to the seaway is to promote the dream of having clear
beaches and clear water … clear to the seaway,” Dreyer said.
In his career Dreyer has already swum across all five Great Lakes and the
length of Lake Michigan. “Swimming the length of the other four lakes in a
single event would comprise swimming the entire length of the Great Lakes
basin,” Dreyer said. “That is all there is left for me to do here. I’ve
set records crossing all the lakes, crossing the largest one alone, and
crossing a couple of them combined with Ironman-distance running and
biking. Swimming the whole thing at once will be the ultimate finale.”
According to Dreyer’s 2008 plans, the approximate 1300-mile swim,
estimated to take four months, will have him swimming 58 consecutive 20 to
25-mile stages alone while towing the weight of his supplies. The route,
which includes swimming along the shorelines of six states and a Canadian
province, also includes 35-mile and 29-mile open water crossings of Lake
Huron and Saginaw Bay. If successful, Dreyer will eclipse the world
distance record for a staged self-sufficient swim he set in 2003 swimming
the length of Lake Michigan.
In addition to chronicling Dreyer’s 2008 journey through Lakes Superior,
Huron, Erie, and Ontario, the film will also feature a number of
soon-to-be-announced 2007 events Dreyer is planning in Lake Michigan, the
only lake not part of his Clear to the Seaway route. “I am very
excited about the film project,” Dreyer stated. “Not only will it be
entertaining as an adventure film, it will also be educational from a
historical perspective, as my swim will serve as the thread to weave
together the many tales that tell the story of the Great Lakes. Most
importantly, the film will deliver a strong environmental message that
promotes the need and means for saving our planet’s largest freshwater
resource.”
The April 22, 2007 Traverse City Earth Day event, entitled Keeping
Traverse Grand, will kick off the tour and will serve as the event
model for the many times Dreyer is planning to make landfall in swimming
events over the next two years. After a short swim, Dreyer is planning to
emerge from the 35-degree water of Lake Michigan’s Grand Travers Bay at
Clinch Park along the Traverse City waterfront, where he will join
volunteers in cleaning up the beach. “In conjunction with my swim,
Shaklee Great Lakes, my nutritional sponsor, is heading up an effort
to activate the Traverse City community in cleaning up the beach on Earth
Day,” Dreyer said. “Provided we are able to secure corporate partnerships
for the rest of the tour, I will continue to swim, and we will continue to
film and clean up beaches in communities all around Lake Michigan in 2007,
and along my route in the other four lakes in 2008. This is an opportunity
for progressive ‘green’ companies to support a once-in-a-lifetime project
that positively impacts our future, and effectively positions them as a
major player in a new environmentally-responsible economy.” Volunteers
interested in getting involved in the Traverse City beach clean up event
are asked to bring their own trash bags. The beach clean-up begins at 1:00
p.m. at Clinch Park.
More information on the Great Lakes Preservation Tour and film
project will be posted online at
www.SwimJimSwim.org as it becomes available.
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