Register Now!

by ACTIVE Network

 

Download 2014 Turnaround Swim Fact Sheet and Mail-in Application

 

Start of the 2010 Swim

They'll be Back!

On Saturday, June 28, more than 100 swimmers will return to the URI Campanella Rowing Center for the Ninth Annual Narrow River Turnaround Swim. They’ll set off from the beach adjacent to the rowing center dock at 9:00 a.m., swim around a buoy a half mile down river, and head back to the beach. This one-mile loop swim celebrates the joy of open-water swimming and the natural beauty of the Narrow River, and raises money for the NRPA’s education, preservation and protection efforts, including the NRPA River Watch water monitoring program, now starting its 23rd year. Here’s your chance to:  Swim outdoors after a winter in the pool  Discover the beauty of the Narrow River  Enjoy a little competition (the best time last year was 20:26)  Support the educational and watershed preservation work of NRPA. But you must register now. The event is limited to 150 swimmers.

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. See more 2013 results.

About the Swim

The Narrow River Turnaround Swim is an annual one-mile open-water swim in the Lower Pond of 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 and preservation initiatives. 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.” 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.

URI Rowing Center

The swim takes place at the URI Campanella Rowing Center, a beautiful spot on Narrow River’s Lower Pond, and also the location of La Farge Point Park. WER La Farge 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.

 

Directions to the Narrow River Turnaround Swim

Directions from Connecticut via I-95 Northbound: Take I-95 through Conn. to exit 3A in Rhode Island. Take exit 3A - Route 138 East and stay on 138 for about 15 miles. You will pass URI on your left. Travel 4 more miles to US-1 and take a LEFT onto US-1 North. Move to the right lane and travel 0.7 miles. A turning lane is available. Take a right onto Walmsley Lane and drive down the hill. Park on Walmsley Lane only, facing downhill on the left.

From N.H. and Mass. via I-95 Southbound: Take I-95 South to Exit 9/RI-4 South (a left exit). At the end of RI-4, merge onto US-1 South and drive past the exit for 138 East. Continue on US-1 South. You will pass the boathouse entrance on the opposite side of the median. At the Route 138 West intersection (a traffic light after the Holiday Inn on the right) make a U-turn. Travel north on US-1 for 0.7 miles and turn right onto Walmsley Lane. Drive down the hill. Park on Walmsley Lane only, facing downhill on the left.