Lucky’s Lake Swim

Lucky’s Lake Swim is a daily 1 kilometer open water swim started by Lucky Meisenheimer at his home in 1989 in Orlando Florida. The no charge swim has achieved a cult status with open water swimmers and triatheletes. Thousands have completed the swim. It is also known as the Aquatica (unrelated to the Orlando water park) 1K enter the food chain swim. [http://www.usmsswimmer.com/200601/luckymeisenheimer.pdf] [http://southwestorlandobulletin.com/directorytext.asp?id=852]

History

The swim began in 1989 when Lucky Meisenheimer invited friends and masters swimmers he coached at the YMCA Aquatic Center to join him on his morning lake swim.. Initially the swim was held on Saturdays but after the first year went to 4 days a week. In 1995, it became a daily swim except for Sundays. Originally, the swim went from April through October, in 2005 the swim went year round. The weekday swims, which are always at 6:30 AM, are started in the dark much of the year. On Saturdays and holidays the swims are at 7:45 AM. The starts are a mass start and no other start times are available.

The Wall of Fame

In 1999, swimmers began signing their names to a wall on the back of the Meisenhiemer’s house on the first completion of the 1-kilometer course. Lucky would write one item of sporting accomplishment under the name if one existed. There is now an eclectic mix of accomplishments listed on the wall some that include; Olympic Swimmers, Olympic Water Polo, National Swimming Champions from multiple countries, World Record holders, National Parachuting Champion, Hang Gliding world record holder, National Sailing Champion, National Unicycle Champion, and scores of Ironman distance finishers. In 2004, Disney artist Ron McDonald added a swimming mural to the wall. In 2008, the wall had to be expanded to allow for more names. [http://www.barbespublishing.com/images/CFDJun07ForWeb.pdf]

Risks

The swim is done at a persons own risk. There are no lifeguards or rescue boats. Participants are expected to be accomplished swimmers others are told not to swim. Swimmers are encouraged to use a floatation aid such as a pull buoy or wetsuit. Alligators have been seen in the lake at times and some swimmers do swim with knifes, but there has never been an alligator attack. Reportedly, a lake cane monster lives in the lake. Although, never photographed, residents and swimmers have reported sightings or feeling the monster brush up against them. [http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-31826396_ITM]

Rewards

On completion of a swimmer’s first swim, they receive a patch with the logo of the swim and they sign the wall of fame. On the twenty-fifth crossing swimmers receive a white racing cap with the logo. On the one hundredth crossing, swimmers are inducted into the 100K club, their name is highlighted in yellow on the wall of fame, a bio is posted on the official web site and they receive a baseball cap with the lake cane monster logo.At 150 crossings, swimmers receive a yellow racing cap, 200 crossings a T-shirt, and at 500 crossings a silver racing cap. [http://www.LuckysLakeSwim.com]

Trivia

*Lake Cane is located southwest of Orange County, Florida, just across from the Universal Studios theme park. It is a 85 acre spring fed lake with an average depth of approximately 18 feet. The water temperature ranges from 60 F to 90 F. [http://www.cityoforlando.net/public_works/stormwater/lakes/cane.htm]

*Swimmers from over 20 different countries have completed the swim.

*In 2007 Yuko Matsuzaki a professional marathon swimmer from Japan set a Record Holders Republic (RHR) World record for the longest open water lake swim by a woman with, 82 crossings (82 kilometers) [http://www.centralfloridaymca.org/uploadfiles/AquaticCenterLuckysWorldRecordReleaseWeb.pdf]

*Lucky Meisenheimer has done over 15000 crossings.

*In 2007, a RHR world record was set by a 50-person relay doing 100 crossings.

*An escorted dog named Digger completed the swim in 2008.

*The youngest to complete the swim is Jake Meisenheimer at age 6 and the oldest first time swimmer is Geno Augustin Age 73.

References

External links

* [http://www.LuckysLakeSwim.com Official website]