Celebrating The Search

Photos by Kathleene Marcil

Frazer and Biankowski Complete Cold, Wet 25-Mile Crossing of Lake Memphremagog In Search of Memphre

NEWPORT, VERMONT: In the early morning hours of Thursday, August 22, 2024, three very different open water swimmers set out from Newport City Dock and Boat Ramp, swimming north across the border. 

The night was cold (mid-50’s) and wet with intermittent rain throughout the night and the following day. Air temperatures rose to the low 60’s during the day. Winds were generally light from the southwest except as we came through the Sargent’s Bay and Georgeville regions when it picked up to 10 MPH from the Northwest, but then subsided and returned to a light tail wind from the Southwest. The water temperature was about 70 F all the way up the lake. The absence of significant winds made this the least miserable day of our three-day window, Window VI. Great for swimmers, but for pilots and crew it was a wet and cold one. As always, Lake Memphremagog was mysterious and stunningly beautiful as she displayed another one of her many moods.

Austin Frazer, 38, of San Antonio, Texas, entered the water at 12:01 am in Newport and exited the lake on to Plage de Baie Magog at 2:21 pm, for an elapsed time of 14 hours and 20 minutes. Piloting the Kingdom Games Pontoon Boat was Gary Coburn of Newport Center, Vermont and Margaret Rivard of Derby, Vermont and Springfield, New Hampshire. Crewing for Austin was Teresa Gerade of Newport, Vermont. 

This was Austin’s longest non-current assisted swim of his life.  Austin has been swimming with us for years. He has swum multiple NEK Swim Weeks with his wife Rachel kayaking for him. This year he swam the15-mile Border Buster at Kingdom Swim and the entire NEK Swim Week. Last year he swam the current assisted 20 Bridges (28 Miles Around Manhattan) in 7 hours and 55 minutes

Piotr Biankowski, 58, of Gdynia, Poland, entered the water at 12:11 am and exited in Magog at 4:09 pm for an elapsed time of 15 hours and 58 minutes. Piloting his pontoon, The Office, was Robert Roberge of Derby, Vermont and Vera Rivard of Derby, Vermont and Springfield, New Hampshire. Crewing for Piotr were his wife, Beata Zwolinska, and his swim buddy, Aleksandra Kabelis, both from Gdnyia, Poland.

Piotr already holds the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming. He has already completed a swim across the length of Loch Ness and (just a week before his Memphre swim) Lake Tahoe. With the completion of In Search of Memphre, he becomes the seventh swimmer to claim the Triple Crown of Lake Monster Swims, behind Sarah Thomas, Elaine Kornbau Howley, Craig Lenning, Pat Gallant-Charette, Steve Stievenart, and Shannon House Keegan. Piotr and Aleksandra have been swimming this summer to raise money for Poland’s Ronald McDonald Foundation to fund travelling cancer screening for children in Poland. They also organize and host a winter swimming competition in Gdnyia in a 10 lane, 25-meter pool cut in the ice of the Baltic Sea. In 2008 they will be hosting the International Championships for the IWSA.

Both swims by Austin Frazer and Piotr Biankowski were conducted in full compliance with traditional Channel Crossing Rules as articulated and published by the Marathon Swimmers Federation. Each of these swims has been ratified by the Northeast Kingdom Open water Swimming Association.

John Smirnow, 58, of Takoma Park, Maryland entered the water at 12:21 am and exited the water about 4 hours and 30 minutes later, having completed about seven miles of night swimming. Piloting the Kingdom Games Pontoon, Lucky, were Phil White, of Derby, Vermont and Cynthia Needham of Hyde Park, Vermont. Crewing for John was Cynthia Needham, of Hyde Park, Vermont. John swam the 10-mile Kingdom Swim in 2021 and has twice completed our 25 km Border Buster in 2022 and 2024. Initially, he was hoping to swim the length of Lake Memphremagog this year. But, he experienced some issues during this year’s Border Buster and decided to use his slot as training in night swimming. 

After John exited the water, our pontoon boat, Lucky, became a moving tripod for Kathleene Marcil, serving as Kingdom Games photographer. For a link to her all of her photos of the day, see Photos of Window VI – Austin Frazer and Piotr Biankowski. For a selection of the best, edited photos see Photos of Window VI - Select

The following day, we gathered at The Clubhous to sign one of each of the Boat Nameplates and tack the other on The Clubhous Garage Wall, beside the seven others who have completed The Search so far this year. We then had our traditional post-swim breakfast at The Brown Cow. In the afternoon we gathered again at Jasper’s Tavern on Main Street in downtown Newport to sign the ceiling above the bar. Margaret and Vera Rivard joined us, not just as co-pilots for Piotr and Austin, but also to sign the Jasper's Ceiling AGAIN to record their historic 50-Mile Tandem Double Cross of Lake Memphremagog, just a week ago. And, while Austin was signing his own record on the Jasper's Ceiling, he received a Power of Attorney from Magoo Smitherman to add his name for his Search in 2016. They met at NEK Swim Week this summer. Jasper's was closed when Magoo tried to sign his own name. Gotta love it!

Four more Searches are still ahead before we close down this extaordinary summer of open water swimming. We have set the schedule of Eight Three-Day Windows in 2025 and have started taking reservations.

Special thanks to the Canadian Border Services Agency and US Customs and Border Protection for working with us to facilitate the border crossings that are an integral part of In Search of Memphre. And a shout to Newport Downtown Development and VOREC for grant funds that allowed us to upgrade our pontoon boats and build a robust corps of Boat Pilots, necessary to grow the capacity of The Search to accept swimmers from all over North America and the world. And a Tribute to Barbara Malloy, Vermont's First Lady Dracontologist, for her tireless work over decades to document over 170 sightings of our swimmer-friendly Lake Monster, Memphre.

Kingdom Games now hosts over 50 days of swimming, running, and biking events in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont and the Eastern Townships of Quebec. They are highly acclaimed, recreational athletic endurance events, challenging to the very best, with options that make them accessible for all, newcomers and seasoned veterans, young and old alike. They are held in venues that showcase the very best of the Northeast Kingdom, its four seasons, its wide open “vista riddled” roads, its legendary lakes, and its working agricultural landscape.

Over the past decade, Kingdom Games has drawn thousands of participants, kayakers, volunteers, friends and family from over 45 states and 4 Canadian provinces as well as Mexico, Argentina, Great Britain, Ireland, Scotland, France, Germany, Poland, Spain, Latvia, Finland, Russia, UAE, Saudi Arabia, India, Australia, New Zealand and Switzerland. 

They have been made possible by a host of sponsors, partners, friends, and volunteers who support the mission of The Games to help make the Northeast Kingdom a mecca for these sporting communities of swimmers, runners, and cyclists.

Kingdom Games is a small business that pays taxes and, based on the principles of Newman’s Own, dedicates all net profits to local charities, organizations, and good causes. Over the past 9 years this has totaled over $65,000. We purchase all products and services from local businesses, whenever possible.