Yesterday, I had the privilege of participating in the 4th Annual KROSSIN’ KEUKA open water swim across beautiful Keuka Lake in the Finger Lakes Region of upstate New York! Benefiting the Keuka Comfort Care Home – a state-of-the-art hospice care home serving the Rochester and Finger Lakes region – the event raised nearly $50k for the organization!
At .67 Miles, Krossin’ Keuka is not a terribly far swim if you’re used to open water or triathlon swimming. In fact it is billed as a “fun swim”, not a race, and it was exactly that relaxed vibe which made it such an enjoyable event! The event had a particularly community atmosphere about it. You saw families swimming together, high school swim team grandkids swimming with grandparents, many were swimming who had personally lost a loved one and had benefited from the services of the Keuka Comfort Care Home.
The event was also incredibly well-organized, great music, great food, and a beautiful setting on Keuka College’s “Point Neamo” beach right on the Eastern extension of Keuka Lake’s ‘Y’ shape.
Keuka Lake, the third largest of the 11 Finger Lakes of New York, is absolutely beautiful! Surrounded by rolling hills, world-class vineyards, and dotted with cottages, the 19 mile lake is very warm (78 degree water yesterday) this time of year and the pristine water is crystal clear.
If you’re in the Finger Lakes / Rochester / Syracuse area and want to participate in a great open water swimming event while supporting a great cause than I would HIGHLY recommend Krossin Keuka! It is also, given the great boat logistics and safety support, a great event for anyone wanting to try open water swimming on a smaller scale in a safe environment.
Congrats to everyone who participated on Sunday – what a great way to end the weekend!
links: Krossin’ Keuka Event Website, Keuka Comfort Care Home
A very important side-note: the Finger Lakes Region of NY is at the center of an escalating fight over the future of Hydraulic Fracturing (a.k.a. “fracking” or “hydrofracking”) in the United States. While it is true that this technology can extract needed natural gas energies for our consumption while creating needed jobs, it does so only temporarily, and at such an astonishingly high price and with such irreversible ecological devastation that we must halt this industry if we are to maintain an environment fit for human life over multiple generations. The alternative (as other areas of our Country and the World are finding) is permanently polluted water tables and soil stock, loss of agriculture, pollution of air supply, and devastation of communities making them unfit for human habitation. Fracking is a short-sighted gain in exchange for a permanent loss. Please educate yourself about this practice and find out how you can become involved at CoalitionToProtectNewYork.org.
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