Edmonton teen to attempt becoming first woman to swim length of B.C. lake

Robyn Coleman is hoping to set a world record by swimming the length of a lake in B.C. CTV News Edmonton's Miriam Valdes-Carletti reports.

Robyn Coleman is hoping to set a Guinness World Record by swimming the length of a lake in British Columbia.

The 19-year-old Edmonton teen is training to continuously swim 106 kilometres in Okanagan Lake.

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“I’m a bit nervous, mostly happy nervous,” Coleman, who has been training for the last two years for the swim, told CTV News Edmonton on Sunday. “I’m excited to get in the water and get to do it, but it’s a long distance to think about.”

She aims to set the record this June as the first female to swim the length of the major lake in B.C.’s Interior, starting on the north end of it in Vernon and ending on the south shore in Penticton.

To prepare for the attempt, Coleman swims 20 hours a week, does endurance and weight training, and hits the water competitively.

Both she and her manager, her mother Crystal, say the attempt will not be easy. Just one person has completed the swim: Adam Ellenstein took 41 hours to do it in 2016.

“We’ve split it into seven legs, but it’s a continuous swim around the clock,” Crystal Coleman said.

“We expect, based on her pacing, it should be around 70 to 72 hours of continuous swimming.”

Robyn is using the record attempt to raise $10,000 for the Heart and Stroke Foundation, a charity that’s important to her. When she was 12, she suffered a stroke.

“It was a scary time for us,” Crystal said. “It was something that she didn’t even realize. She had to learn how to talk again, how to walk, eat … She’s come a long way from that 12-year-old that had that injury to now.”

Robyn says being in the pool has helped her recover.

“I love swimming, I love open-water swimming,” she said. “I’m so excited to take on this challenge, and to do it with my family and friends around me.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Miriam Valdes-Carletti