He was never past fourth place during the race and it was soo exciting to see him come in and finish for an Aussie trifecta - 1st John VanWisse (7hr10min) and 2nd Penny Palfrey (7hr 20min approx.).
He has pulled up unbelievably well and now getting ready for the celebration dinner. Tony did a remarkable job paddling around the island, even though he was a bit of a scene stealer before the race. American kayaker: "You have to see this....there is some guy paddling with his hands! I asked him whereabouts from London he was from and he got really angry at me."
Every swimmer was allocated a boat and two kayakers as support crew, but Murph was the only one with a board paddler and it really helped having Tony on the water with him.
Jenny Johnston, Chad Schnieder and I managed to somehow score a ride with Phil, manager of StVincents paramedics who was following the swim for the day. We were able to stop along the way and had really close access along the river - we were even cheering him on over the truck's loudspeaker as we were driving alongside him! We went as far north as Harlem and hung out on a construction site waiting for him to come around to shout words of encouragement. It was such a great day and and an awesome way to experience the swim - it really made us feel like part of the swim (the easy part obviously!)
More details soon but here are some photos of the day.
Having a chat with Chad before the race
Tony in a sea of kayakers
Chad greasing Murph down before the race
The start line....
Sunrise over New Jersey
Jumping in for the start
The start line
Swimming through Harlem (just under three hours)
Coming in for the finish
Crossing the finish line
Getting a hosedown after the finish
Lily greeting daddy at the finish
Phil (the paramedic) with some of the team
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