Brian McKenna finishes the 2013 Narrow River Turnaround Swim in 20 minutes and 26 seconds, the first among the 124 swimmers who enjoyed a beautiful morning on Narrow River. McKenna is quickly followed by Albert Garcia who finished in 20:31.

For more results, click one of the links below:

2013 Times, All swimmers

2013 Times, Men

2013 Times, Women 

Diane Leith-Doucett's time of 22:14 was the best among female swimmers and earned her a Turnaround Swim Hoodie.

About the Swim

The Narrow River Turnaround Swim is an annual one-mile open-water swim in the Lower Pond of the Narrow River. The swim creates awareness of the river as a scenic area and as a good place to swim, promotes open-water swimming as a lifetime activity, and raises money for the NRPA’s education, preservation and protection programs, including the River Watch monitoring program, now starting its 22nd year. Thanks to NRPA and others, water quality in Narrow River has improved. In the words of Narragansett Elementary School Physical Education teacher Paul McCaffery, who co-chairs the event with URI Swimming and Diving Coach Mick Westkott, “The title Turnaround is indicative of the path we chose for the course of the swim and also for the course of the river. The Narrow River has been turned around from one that wasn’t healthy to one that is.”

URI Rowing Center

The swim takes place at the URI Rowing Center, a beautiful spot on Narrow River’s Lower Pond, and also the location of LaFarge Point Park. WER LaFarge was one of the founders of NRPA in 1970 and remained active until his untimely death from cancer in 1994.  He bequeathed a piece of his farm as land for the Rowing Center. Many comments have been received about how well organized and safety-conscious the swim has been and the same committee will again run it.

In addition to Paul and Mick, other people on the Swim Committee are: Perry Moylan, Pat Gannon, Felix Sarubbi, Jason McNamee, Lori Pugh, Karen DeQuattro, Shelagh Donohoe (Head Coach, URI Women’s Rowing), NRPA President Richard Grant, and Veronica Berounsky (NRPA Board member).  They will be assisted by the many friends, relatives and colleagues who have offered to return to help make the swim run smoothly and efficiently.

Past Swims