Stratford Teen Prepares to Swim Across Lake Erie

Thursday, 27 August 2020 05:55

A remarkable 13 year old from Stratford plans to swim 20 kilometres on Sunday, her 14th birthday in an attempt to become the youngest person ever to swim across Lake Erie.

STRATFORD - 13 year old Julia Notebomber of Stratford plans to become the youngest person ever to swim across Lake Erie.

You are not allowed to do the swim until you are 14 years old, so Julia is going to make her trek on her 14th birthday, this Sunday August 30th. If she completes the swim, it would mean she can always claim to being the youngest person to swim across Lake Erie.

They did have to get permission from both the US and Canadian Government to do the swim, as the borders are currently closed. Everything is in place now and they are ready to roll on Sunday if the weather is permitting.

Julia’s route begins at Sturgeon Point, New York and finishes at Crystal Beach in the Niagara Region. She is doing the swim for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Southwestern Ontario.

"I chose them because I believe that every kids should have the opportunity to just be a kid and have fun and just have fun experiences."

The Waves for Wishes swim will take about 8-10 hours to complete and it is a 20 km trek across Lake Erie. Julia started open water swimming when she was 10 years old. She began by doing a one-km race and fell in love with open water swimming, increasing to a 3.8 km the following year. Julia swims competitively with the Wilmot Aquatic Aces Swim Club in Wilmot, and participated last year in a 12.8 km Swim for the Cure.

Julia says she will have a team with her for the journey.

"It is is a solo swim, so I will be the only one actually doing the swim but I have an amazing team. I have my coach Joni from the Wilmot Aces and I have my pace swimmers, after 5 hours of swimming they are allowed to join me in the water to keep me motivated and on track. I also have my swim master who makes sure everything is safe and following the rules and I have to have two zodiacs and two boats and kayak following me."

You can donate to Waves for Wishes online here.

You can also follow her progress on Sunday through social media with the following social media accounts:

Facebook @wavesforwishes2020
Twitter @Wavesforwishes
Instagram @wavesforwishes2020