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New Senior Star
George Brunstad Conquers English Channel at 70
Uncle of Matt Damon does it to help children of
Haiti
 Aug.
30, 2004 - George Brunstad, who is the uncle of movie star Matt Damon,
became the oldest person to swim the English Channel and raised at least
$11,000 for an orphanage in Haiti at the same time. He completed the
fete on Sunday after celebrating his 70th birthday on
Wednesday.
A resident of Ridgefield, Connecticut, Brunstad
left Dover on Saturday at 9.13 a.m. and arrived on the northern French
coast at Sangatte, near Calais, at 2.12 a.m. on Sunday, completing the
21 miles in 15 hours and 59 minutes.
The weather was good and the sea calm. Everything
went well, Michael Oram, the federation member who skippered the boat
which followed the swimmer for the crossing, said.
The crossing was planned for his birthday on
Wednesday but bad weather caused a delay.
Brunstad, who retired in 1994 as a pilot for
American Airlines, beat the previous record holder, Australian Clifford
Batts, who crossed the Channel in 1987 at the age of 67 and 240 days.
Joe Van Horn, 68, a retired dentist from Canton,
Ohio, who had also been hoping for the record on Saturday, had to stop
swimming 13.6 km into his effort because of leg cramps, said Andy King,
captain of Van Horns escort boat.
"I am tired, but this is it, I've got the world
record and I feel wonderful, said Brunstad. "When I arrived I just said
'Praise the Lord', stood on the beach and raised my arms in a V sign."
He is a World
Masters Open Water Swimming Champion and has won more than 100 national
championship medals in U.S. Masters Swimming.
Brunstad's record-breaking swim raised thousands of
dollars for his charity Center for Hope. The charity has a Website at
http://www.channelhopeforhaiti.org/. The charity was established
with his wife, Judy, after they
visited an orphanage in the Haitian village of Hinche. |
