Howley set to swim entire length of lake

SANDPOINT — Which is to be believed, Google Earth or a local who has lived for 50 plus years in Sandpoint?

Whether the span of Lake Pend Oreille is 43 miles, as a caller to the Daily Bee pointed out the other day, or 34 miles, as it calculates using GPS and satellite signals, there is a starting point and a finish point, and that’s all that matters to Elaine Howley.

Beginning this evening, Howley, a 36 year-old marathon swimmer from the Boston area, will attempt to become the first person to swim the entire length of scenic Lake Pend Oreille, starting down south at Buttonhook Bay in Athol and ending on the white sands of Sandpoint City Beach.

Howley was under the assumption that the swim was 34 miles, as pitched to her by Sandpoint swimming enthusiast and Long Bridge Swim creator Eric Ridgway, no stranger to adventure swims in the crystalline waters of Lake Pend Oreille.

So what was Howley’s reaction upon visiting the Wikipedia page for Lake Pend Oreille?

“I had a minor panic attack about six weeks ago when I saw the lake listed as being 43 miles long,” recalls Howley, a former Division 1 college swimmer and one of the top marathon swimmers in the U.S.

 “At the end of the day, it’s going to be what it’s going to be. I’ll just keep putting one arm in front of the other until we run out of water.”

Howley’s longest swim to date is 38 miles, during a 24 hour swim in Lake Cochituate in Massachusetts on the Summer Solstace. Among her other accomplishments include setting a record from crossing the Boston harbor (16 miles) in just over seven hours, completing a solo circumnavigation of Manhattan Island (28.5 miles) and perhaps most incredibly, a one mile swim in the frigid 41 degree waters of the Boston Harbor — without a wet suit.

Howley graduated from Georgetown University in 2000, and when she isn’t shredding the water, she is the associate editor for U.S. Masters Swimming. A gifted writer, she’s had several award-winning stories published in a variety of media.

Howley was invited to Sandpoint by Ridgway, who was part of a team of 10 swimmers to circumnavigate the 84 miles of Lake Pend Oreille in 2011. Ridgway has long held that the deep and expansive lake is perfect for open water swims, and is excited to see the latest adventure swim taking shape.

“I’m betting on her success because she knows how to have fun, not take herself too seriously, and she has done one hell of a lot of training,” says Ridgway. “She’s got to have a lot of stubbornness inside of her or there is no way that she could have completed a one mile swim in 41 degree water.”

Howley will be joined by Ridgway, husband Mark Howley, sports nutritionist Sunny Blende and kayaker Randy Hixon on the journey, which is slated to start around 7 p.m. tonight and end sometime after noon on Thursday. Howley hopes to finish between 17 and 20 hours, but wind and chop could stretch it out closer to 24 hours.

Ridgway is well acquainted with wild swims, starting the popular 1.76 miles Long Bridge Swim more than two decades ago and taking part in a host of adventure swims on his hometown lake.

He’ll be among a swimming kindred spirit in Howley, and doesn’t doubt for a second that she’ll finish the swim, whether it’s 34 miles or 43 miles.

“Swimmers often get a little brain damage, and they just keep swimming until they hit some kind of a shoreline,” says Ridgway. “She’ll fit right in with the other swimming nuts in north Idaho.”