Katie Cordrey
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Endurance athlete Jennifer Figge made news this week by becoming the first woman on record to swim across the Atlantic Ocean. The 56-year-old has realized a dream she’s held since her 1960’s childhood. She battled strong winds and waves of up to 30 feet during her swim. Figge made the trip in just 24 days and was taken nearly 1,000 miles off her original 2,000-mile route by bad weather. The exact distance of the Colorado boomer’s swim is yet to be calculated. Figge’s feat goes to prove that 50 isn’t what it used to be. In the 2008 Olympics, 20 American athletes were 40 years old or older. The oldest American competitor was a 58-year-old male and the oldest woman was 56. Apparently boomer athletes really do still rock and roll!  During the crossing, she woke most days around 7 a.m., eating pasta and baked potatoes while she and the crew assessed the weather. Her longest stint in the water was about eight hours, and her shortest was 21 minutes.
Crew members would throw bottles of energy drinks as she swam; if the seas were too rough, divers would deliver them in person. At night she ate meat, fish and peanut butter, replenishing the estimated 8,000 calories she burned a day.
(cbc)References: msn.foxsports, cbc Filed In: |
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