Melodee Liegl - Green Lake

West to East

11.2 km (7.0 miles)

4 hours, 22 minutes on 30 July 2020

Observed and documented by Katie Donahugh and Sarah Green

First

Contents

Swimmer

  • Name: Melodee Liegl
  • Gender: female
  • Age on swim date: 53
  • Nationality: United States
  • Resides: Delafield, Wisconsin

Support Personnel

  • Katie Donahugh
  • Sarah Green

Both served simultaneously as observers, crew, and kayak pilots.

Escort Vessels

Two kayaks.

Swim Parameters

  • Category: Solo, nonstop, unassisted.
  • Rules: MSF Rules of Marathon Swimming, without exception or modification.
  • Equipment used: Textile swimsuit (Speedo Endurance+), cap, goggles.

Route Definition

  • Body of Water: Green Lake, Wisconsin
  • Route Type: one-way
  • Start Location: Dodge Memorial County Park (Markesan, WI) (43.779297, -89.048216)
  • Finish Location: Sunset Park (Pleasant Point, WI) (43.826260, -88.927395)
  • Minimum Route Distance: 11.2 km (7.0 miles) (map)


Dodge Park

History

No known previous swims of this route.

Swim Data

  • Start: 30 July 2020, 07:14 (Central Daylight, America/Chicago, UTC-5).
  • Finish: 30 July 2020, 11:36
  • Elapsed: 4 hours, 22 minutes.

Summary of Conditions

Feature Min Max
Water Temp (F) 78 78
Air Temp (F) 64 74
Wind (mph) 6 10

GPS Track

Trackpoint frequency: 10 minutes. Download raw data (CSV).

Click to expand map.

Speed Plot

Nutrition: Clif Blok, GU gel, water

Observer Log

Download PDF

Swimmer Statement

by Melodee Liegl

What inspired you to do this swim?

With all the craziness of 2020, I still wanted to have a swim documented with MSF for 2020. I recruited my friend, Katie, as an observer (right before her knee replacment surgery was planned) and my son’s girlfriend, Sarah. My dad grew up in a city about 20 minutes away from Green Lake. When I was young, we would go boating on that lake. It is a big lake and I have thought about swimming across this lake one of these days. Since most events were cancelled, I thought this was the year to swim across.

Please describe how you planned for the swim.

Super easy, it was on my list of swims to do some day. Since my friend was having surgery soon, I wanted to squeeze it in and that was the only time that worked.

How did the swim go, generally? Did you face any unanticipated challenges?

I would have loved to have done a double crossing as I had planned (I was totally prepared to), but that was not going to happen this day. I would say this was the worst swims for me mentally. Then Sarah was having issues with her kayak and struggled and was not happy. I am just lucky I got the single crossing done. The double will be done another day.

Photos

Click to enlarge.

Video