Atlantic City Marathon Swim Results

I was at this race as a spectator and a swimmer. I never ever saw a tennis ball. My brother won the race three times and was told by Jim Toomey (the organizer) if he won the race again after the second race, they were going to cancel it. So the 3rd he came in second to Cliff Lumsden. The year I raced 1964 they canceled after the race because Herman W had won 5 times in a row. I had frayed tendons in both shoulders. I had raced the Saguenay River, 28 miles 4 days earlier finished first two hours ahead of the rest of the swimmers and damaged my shoulders in that race. We were not allowed to swim behind the boat we swam at the side of the boat. This is a story from Atlantic City Marathon... Every top distance swimmer of the era competed in the Atlantic City race. Champions like Tom Park, Cliff Lumsden, Alfredo Camarero and Greta Anderson become honorary citizens of the area during their July visits. Park won the event 3 times and his Toronto boyhood buddy Cliff Lumsden, won twice; the Argentinean, Camerero, upset the field with his victory in 1957. Denmark’s Greta Anderson was the top woman swimmer throughout the years of the competition. Overall, however, the single dominant performer was “The Flying Dutchman,” Herman Willemse, who reeled off 5 straight overwhelming victories 1960 through 1964. Only the demise of the race in ’65 stopped him from continuing his dominance.

I was at this race as a spectator and a swimmer. I never ever saw a tennis ball. My brother won the race three times and was told by Jim Toomey (the organizer) if he won the race again after the second race, they were going to cancel it. So the 3rd he came in second to Cliff Lumsden. The year I raced 1964 they canceled after the race because Herman W had won 5 times in a row. I had frayed tendons in both shoulders. I had raced the Saguenay River, 28 miles 4 days earlier finished first two hours ahead of the rest of the swimmers and damaged my shoulders in that race. We were not allowed to swim behind the boat we swam at the side of the boat. This is a story from Atlantic City Marathon... Every top distance swimmer of the era competed in the Atlantic City race. Champions like Tom Park, Cliff Lumsden, Alfredo Camarero and Greta Anderson become honorary citizens of the area during their July visits. Park won the event 3 times and his Toronto boyhood buddy Cliff Lumsden, won twice; the Argentinean, Camerero, upset the field with his victory in 1957. Denmark’s Greta Anderson was the top woman swimmer throughout the years of the competition. Overall, however, the single dominant performer was “The Flying Dutchman,” Herman Willemse, who reeled off 5 straight overwhelming victories 1960 through 1964. Only the demise of the race in ’65 stopped him from continuing his dominance.