Margaret Rivard Crosses the 25-Mile Length of Lake Memphremagog

Margaret Rivard Completes a Monster Swim

NEWPORT, VERMONT – MAGOG, QUEBEC - On Wednesday, July 13^th, 2022, 15-year-old, Margaret Rivard of Springfield, NH and Derby, VT, re-opened the Canadian border to open water swimming by completing In Search of Memphre, a 25-mile international swim on Lake Memphremagog between Newport, Vermont and Magog, Quebec. She entered the water at 12:30 am at the EastSide Restaurant in Newport, VT and exited at 4:21 pm at Plage de Magog, in Magog, Quebec. Total time: 15 hours and 51 minutes.

Her crew consisted of her parents, Darcie DeBlois-Rivard and Kevin Rivard, and her sister and training partner, Vera Rivard. Piloting the escort pontoon, Lucky, were Phil White, Director of Kingdom Games and Charlotte Brynn, Assistant Director of Kingdom Games

Weather and water welcomed Rivard and her swim. Water temperatures were 72 to 74 F, air temperatures ranged from high 50s at night to mid 70s during the day. Wind was variable, from 2 to 3 mph up to 10 mph generally from the west. The Moon was full and lit the lake during the first four hours of the swim. Skies were generally fair, with some clouds and an occasional shower . During the first hour, a moon-lit rainbow extended over the lake; Memphre’s magical greeting for young Margaret as she swam north.

The swim was ratified by the Northeast Kingdom Open Water Swimming Association and was in full accordance with traditional channel crossing standards as published by the Marathon Swimmers Federation.

Rivard had qualified for the swim by twice completing the 25 km Border Buster at Kingdom Swim in 2018 and 2019 when she was 11 and 12. She was scheduled to attempt The Search in 2020, when she was 13. But, the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting closure of the border delayed her swim until this year. She was totally ready to rumble, when the border opened.

Rivard began her “official” open water career, swimming the ¼ mile youth swim at Kingdom Swim when she was 7 years old in 2014, completing it in 10 minutes and 49 seconds. The next year she did the 1-mile swim at Kingdom Swim and 3 miles at Caspian Lake during the NEK Swim Week. As a 9-year-old she completed the 5 km distance at Kingdom Swim and the 5-mile crossing of Lake Willoughby. In 2017, at age 10, she became the youngest swimmer to complete the 10-mile course at Kingdom Swim, and swam each lake during NEK Swim Week, totaling 8 lakes over the course of 9 days with a cumulative distance of 46 miles. At age 11, she moved on to the 25 km Border Buster at Kingdom Swim, completing it in 10:22:06 and became the youngest swimmer to double cross Lac Massawippi (18 miles) and Lake Willoughby (10 miles). In 2019, as a 12-year-old, she came in Fifth among the females at Border Buster, improving her time to 9:17:59. In 2021, she completed the Catalina Channel crossin and, this year, is scheduled to attempt 20 Bridges (around Manhattan) in August with the English Channel on her radar for 2023.

Margaret Rivard swims with a constant smile and a pure joy of the swim. The Rivard family, fell in love with Lake Memphremagog during their various Kingdom Swims and bought a camp in Derby, Vermont with access to the water. Margaret and her sister Vera can be seen most every day during the summer swimming out to and around the islands of Derby Bay. Frequently joining them is Charlotte Brynn, who recently bought a house on the Bluffs in Newport with her husband, Jeff. Charlotte is Executive Director of the Swimming Hole in Stowe, runs BrynnSwim and has just started a series of group and private open water swimming clinics on Lake Memphremagog.

Both Rivard sisters are also members of the Memphremagog Winter Swimming Society and regularly compete in the 25-meter, two-lane pool cut in the ice at the EastSide Restaurant every year at the end of February.

1 1 other marathon swimmers are scheduled to attempt to swim from Newport to Magog this summer now that the border is open.

We especially want to thank Luke Bury, Superintendent, East Border District, Stanstead Sector, Canada Border Services Agency, for his assistance in allowing us to cross into Canada during the swim, to Vicki May Hamm, Madam Mayor of Magog, for her assistance and support of the logistics of our landing in Magog and to Dena Gray of the EastSide Restaurant here in Newport for her support of The Search and so many of our other events over these many years.

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Kingdom Games now hosts over 50 days of running, biking, and swimming in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont and the Eastern Townships of Quebec. It is a small business that pays taxes. It is modeled on Newman’s Own, donating all net profits to local charities. It is committed to purchasing goods and services from local businesses, whenever possible. Now entering its 10^th year, it has drawn thousands of recreational athletic participants from over 40 states, four Canadian provinces, and 15 nations around the world.