61-year old fails to swim across Cuba

[Don]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/08/09/ny ... index.html

I really don't get this. Unless I'm missing something, at 61 years old the only kind of sports you might be in peak condition for is Poker. This is something that nobody has done it before and why would anyone expect an endurance record set by a 61 year old? Sure you can say you should try your best and it's the thought that counts but it seems to me she could've easily got herself killed, and she didn't come close to finishing anyway.

[Zeus]

I'd love to see Doyle Brunson try to swim across Cuba! :-)

[Shrinweck]

She's trying again... and she's 62 this time!

[Don]

Failed again due to global warming, according to her, because otherwise the jellyfish that stung her wouldn't be there, or something.

[Shrinweck]

So she tried again... and succeeded! Pretty cool.

[Don]

It seems to me the only reason this is hard is because you need to swim long enough without getting killed by a shark or a killer jellyfish. At least I'm assuming if a 60 year old can do it then surely it's not a matter of endurance for people who are actually good at thsi kind of stuff.

[Flip]

It seems to me the only reason this is hard is because you need to swim long enough without getting killed by a shark or a killer jellyfish. At least I'm assuming if a 60 year old can do it then surely it's not a matter of endurance for people who are actually good at thsi kind of stuff.

Plenty of people seem skeptical, according to the stats and GPS data...

http://news.yahoo.com/nyads-team-respon ... 49828.html

[Eric]

It seems to me the only reason this is hard is because you need to swim long enough without getting killed by a shark or a killer jellyfish. At least I'm assuming if a 60 year old can do it then surely it's not a matter of endurance for people who are actually good at thsi kind of stuff.

Plenty of people seem skeptical, according to the stats and GPS data...

http://news.yahoo.com/nyads-team-respon ... 49828.html

[Don]

The questioning part reminds me of this spoof where some guy who had 20 guys helping him power level in WoW won the Boston Marathon by having 26 guys help him run a mile each in the marathon.

I assume the distance involved isn't anything spectcular unless this person suddenly found the Fountain of Youth and was able to do things people in their prime cannot. I mean I have heard of unlikely winners of endurance sports like this old guy that won an endurance long distance event by not sleeping for a month (he obviously can't match the younger guys but if you don't sleep you get like 8 hours more per day to walk). That said, this doesn't sound like something you can come up with tricks like that, so I always thought the danger was from getting killed by various stuff in the water, not that swimming that kind of distance is that hard for people are into these things. It's fine that she took whatever cautions against the ways you can die from swimming in that area though I question the sanity of doing an endurance event that needs about 30 guys around you to make sure you didn't die.