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A former Winnipegger and cancer survivor attempted to swim across Lake Winnipeg on August long to support others battling cancer.
"It was tough to decide which day to go as every day was windy," says Jonathon Fenton. "We had a little opening on Sunday, where it was windy for the first three hours. I was swimming in the chop, like a cork in a washing machine, just bouncing around."
The 61-year-old, two-time cancer survivor ventured out on Lake Winnipeg at Grand Beach and started to swim the long way across to Gimli on Aug. 3.
"At 11:00 a.m., the wind died right off. The only thing that was an issue was my two shoulders."
The distance from Grand Beach to Gimli to swim is 26 km. Fenton has been training for the event for the past couple of months, while raising funds for CancerCare Manitoba and Alberta, where he currently lives. The longest distance he swam while training was 11 km.
"I lasted about eight and a half hours in the water, 16 km. I couldn't raise them [my shoulders] over my head. They were toast. I tapped out at 16 km."
While Fenton was 10 km shy of his goal, he says he wants to attempt the swim again next year.
"Over the winter, I'll do a lot more swimming and dry land training. Get everything built up. Swimming in Lake Winnipeg is not like swimming in a man-made lake in Calgary. She is a beast."
Fenton was born and raised in Manitoba. The first time he was diagnosed with cancer, roughly 20 years ago, he went through treatment in Winnipeg. Then he and his family moved to Alberta, where he went through his cancer treatment for the second time, and where he lives now.
For a Good Cause
Fenton started off wanting to raise money for CancerCare in both provinces, which helped him on his journey. Before the August long weekend, he had already raised just shy of $22,000 with a goal of $50,000.
"I'm creeping up on $40,000. It doesn't matter, it's all good as I had no idea it would get this high. It's fantastic."
Anyone interested in donating to either CancerCare can still do so here.
"Next year I want to take less feeding breaks, less lolly-gagging in the water and 'Let's do a Facebook live feed.' It was our anniversary, so I had to say that. Next time it'll be a quick feed and go."