Narrow River Turnaround Swim 2012
Congratulations to Fred Bartlett (below) who had the best time overall (21:26) and to Amanda Guy who had the best time (22:40) among female swimmers.
Click the links below for complete swim results:
Many thanks to the 116 swimmers who took part in this year's swim, to the Swim Committee and the many volunteers, and to these generous sponsors:
Albert Knight Antonio Fund
Brickley's Ice Cream
Mr. & Mrs. Paul J. Choquette, Jr.
Christopher & Regan Insurance Inc.
Crosswynd Traders
DB's Pizza
Graphic Expressions
Elizabeth and B. William Moylan
Roch's Fresh Foods
Trio Restaurant/The Newport Group
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
URI Rowing (Oarsman)
Varsity Swim Shop
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 in its 21st 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.”
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), Mike MacDonald (Head Coach, URI Men’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.
