Harald Johnson, Winner Manhattan Island Marathon Swim Founding Executive Director of US Triathlon Cofounder Triathlete Magazine Swimmer,
Triathlete, Surfer, Free Diver
"I had worked out with SLIM FINS prior to the race to increase my ankle flexibility and build leg strength and aerobic capacity, and now I wished I could have strapped them on. In fact, I started fantasizing that I was powering my way through the current with my fins, streamlining my body and lifting myself completely out of the water with each strong kick."
Harald
with his Slim Fins
The race was more than six hours old when I reached Battery Park at the southern end of the island, and I should have been elated with the prospect of the final turn to the finish line. Instead, I hit a four-knot ebbing tidal current head on. I was swimming as hard as I could and not moving an inch. As I struggled to make headway, I could see the other swimmers' boats coming up from behind.
We were piling up against the outgoing tide, and as I fought against the current, I thought about my slim fins sitting in the boat only 10 feet away. I had worked out with slim fins prior to the race to increase my ankle flexibility and build leg strength and aerobic capacity, and now I wished I could have strapped them on. In fact, I started fantasizing that I was powering my way through the current with my fins, streamlining my body and lifting myself completely out of the water with each strong kick. When I came back to the present, the tide slackened and eventually turned, and I sprinted the final three miles up the East River to the finish line."
