Nazareth College alumna to swim all 11 Finger Lakes

Bridgette Hobart Janeczko is no stranger to distance swimming.

Since 2008, she’s been jumping into open water to challenge herself. She swam across the English Channel last year and 120 miles on the Hudson River last month, but the 1984 Nazareth College graduate decided to swim the length of the 11 Finger Lakes as a tribute to her family, her alma mater and her training site.

“I grew up on the Finger Lakes, doing my first open water swim in 1979,” she said. “It’s hard to train there and not want to swim them. It just screams, ‘Swim me.’ ”

Hobart Janeczko, 52, of Hopatcong, New Jersey, hopes to become the first documented person to swim the length of all 11 Finger Lakes.

A former competitive swimmer, Hobart Janeczko began her quest about 6:20 a.m. Saturday on Canandaigua Lake. She started at the south end of the lake and finished in the early afternoon, just east of Kershaw Park’s swimming area.

Unofficially, she swam 15.5 miles in 7 hours and 38 minutes, far faster than her predicted time of nine hours. The marathon open-water swimmer was escorted by her husband Bob, who paddled his kayak alongside her, and several friends in a nearby support boat.

“It really couldn’t have gone better,” she said. “We had perfect weather and the water conditions were just as good.”

She said she encountered several miles of rough water in the 70-degree water as boat traffic on the lake picked up, “but we managed.”

The swim was sanctioned by the World Open Water Swimming Association, which means she must follow several rules to ensure the swim is “official,” she said. For example, she’s not permitted to wear a wetsuit, she may not touch any other boats or kayaks mid-swim and she couldn’t enter or exit the water with any assistance.

She stopped every 30 minutes to refuel and hydrate.

“She never faltered,” said family friend Don Beusman, 80, of Canandaigua, who led the support crew efforts from a pontoon boat. “I’ve never been so impressed with anything in my life. The stamina she had. When she finished, she wasn’t even breathing hard.”

Hobart Janeczko plans to swim the other four major Finger Lakes this summer. Next up is Keuka Lake on July 19 (the swim was delayed a day because of weather and a conflict with an antique boat event), followed by Skaneateles Lake on July 26. She expects to spend at least 22 hours swimming each of the two largest Finger Lakes — Cayuga and Seneca lakes — at the beginning and end of August when lake water will be its warmest. Both lakes span nearly 38 miles, so Hobart Janeczko will begin both long-distance swims at 8 p.m. and swim overnight.

The plan, she said, is to swim in the dark when she feels freshest.

She will then tackle the six minor Finger Lakes in September. None of those lakes should take more than five hours to complete, she said.

To date, her longest nonstop open water swim was her September trek across the English Channel, which she completed in 13 hours and 28 minutes. But unlike most of her distance swims, Hobart Janeczko is tackling her latest challenge on the weekends while still working full time. She is the president of Paradigm Technology Consulting in Allentown, New Jersey.

She expects Keuka, which measures 19.6 miles between the northern and southern shores, to take between 10 and 11 hours. She will have company on her second lake swim, as two marathon swimmers from downstate plan to swim alongside her.

“I just want to have fun with it,” said Hobart Janeczko, noting that she’ll be swimming down memory lane. “I want to visit each lake, visit with friends in the area and just enjoy the experience.”

Beusman said he plans to head to northern end of Keuka Lake Saturday to support his friend.

“She’s so impressive,” he said. “She believes in herself. She has strength, courage and stamina. She believes she can do it, and then she does.”

The 11-lake swim is not a fundraiser, but Hobart Janczko said she hopes to inspire others and to promote Nazareth College and its new Wellness and Rehabilitation Institute, slated to open in the fall.

“My goal is not to get injured and to recover from week to week,” she said. “This was a great start to a long challenge.”

VFREILE@DemocratandChronicle.com

Follow the journey

For more on Bridgette Hobart Janeczko’s multi-lake swim, which she is calling the Nazareth Finger Lakes Challenge, go to www.facebook.com/nazflc.