Caroline Keating will swim five kilometers in the Ohio River on Sunday, the date orginally scheduled for the 2020 Bill Keating Jr. Great Ohio River Swim, named in honor of her late father.
Adventure Crew canceled the event, which is the only open water swim to travel across the Ohio River and back, because of COVID-19.
The pandemic hasn’t canceled city kids’ need to get out into nature, however. Funds raised through the Swim help the nonprofit Adventure Crew take students from 24 Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky schools kayaking, biking, hiking and swimming, among other activities.
Fortunately, Caroline Keating stepped up and offered to help recoup some of those lost funds.
Caroline Keating
After all, the event is close to her heart: Her father, the Swim’s namesake, was one of the first swimmers to sign up for the inaugural event in 2007. (He won the men’s swim but lost the overall title to Caroline.) He continued to support the event until he lost his battle with brain cancer in 2017.
Keating hopes her 5K swim on the Ohio River will raise at least $5,000 for Adventure Crew via donations to her fundraising page.
“I love Adventure Crew’s philosophy of getting kids outside and doing activities,” she said. “Growing up, I had the privilege to be outside and active in sports, and I still love being outdoors as an adult.”
She has fond memories of active pursuits with her father and her four siblings (while their mother watched from the sidelines) – “it was always a competition,” she said.
Before Keating could even walk, she was in the pool with her father, a hall of fame swimmer at St. Xavier High School and the University of Cincinnati. It’s no surprise that she went on to swim at St. Ursula Academy and Bowling Green State University.
Also an avid runner, she ran her first marathon with her father in 2008, and he sparked the idea of running the Boston Marathon. As it turned out, she qualified for the race six weeks after his death and ran it in 2018. She qualified to run it again in 2021, but she needed a new challenge. So she started doing ultramarathons, running a 50K in December and a 50-mile race in March. Before COVID-19, she was set to run a 100-miler in September, but it’s been postponed until next year.
Her 5K Ohio River swim is also a new challenge.
Keating has never swum that far in open water. She expects to complete the Aug. 30 swim in 60 to 90 minutes. She’ll leave the Public Landing on a boat that will ferry her five kilometers upstream, where she’ll hit the water around 7:30 a.m. She should swim back up to the Public Landing, her finish line, between 8:30 and 9 a.m. Safety boaters will monitor her progress for the entirety of the route, and Adventure Crew will offer live updates on the Bill Keating, Jr. Great Ohio River Swim Facebook page throughout her swim.
“While we’re sad we couldn’t gather 200 swimmers on the river this year, we’re so grateful for Caroline’s support and so excited to watch her swim,” said Miriam Wise, Adventure Crew’s associate director. “Her efforts will help us raise critical funds to support our teens at a time when getting outdoors is more important than ever.”
Adventure Crew plans to offer the Swim in 2021, on a date to be announced. Past registrations that would have been honored for 2020 will be carried over to next year.
