Katrine Alcaide

2010 - Present

• USMS All American Honors – 7 years, 19 Individual

• USMS Top Ten Achievements – 60 Individual

• NE LMSC Individual Records – 20 Current, 34 Lifetime

USMS Profile

Water activities started at a young age in our family, swimming in the lake by age 2. Raft tag, waterskiing you name it we were prunes every summer. And I say we because my sister Jessie and I have done pretty much everything swimming related together. 

Growing up my Mom taught Red Cross lessons for the Harpswell kids and we spent countless hours in the old and new Bowdoin pools. When ballet didn't cut it anymore, we turned to competitive swimming. I completed thousands of flip-turns in 9 seasons with Jay Morisette at Long Reach Swim Club in Bath, ME. 

A highlight of my Snaildarter career was swimming in a thunderstorm during the finals 100 free race at Ft Lauderdale Nationals, missing Olympic Trials by .28 of a second. I became a Black Bear at the University of Maine and held the 50 free record alongside Jay's men's record which was cool. 

A big thank you to my family for all the support and sitting in those warm pools!

I needed a couple years post college to give the shoulders a break and after a stab at sprint Triathlons Jessie pulled me back into swimming, this time for Masters in 2010. 

I'll swim in most any pool or familiar lake, but I'm not a huge fan of ocean swims, that's for fishing with my husband. 

Montreal Worlds in 2014 was certainly another highlight in terms of speed, winning my age group and having the 2nd fastest time for the 50 free, an overall exhilarating experience. 

Each meet I go to I look forward to the challenges, connecting with fellow swimmers I've met along the way, and definitely the laughs. These relationships have meant so much both in and out of chlorine. At meets both near and far you know you'll see someone you recognize. "FnGTs" was our LRSC motto: Fun and Good Times, I've certainly had and will!      

Joel Feldmann

Member 1990 - Present

USMS Profile

• USMS All American Honors – 3 years, 6 Individual

• USMS Top Ten Achievements – 213 Individual

• NE LMSC Individual Records – 10 Current, 94 Lifetime

I started swimming on the Epping Forest Swim team near Annapolis, MD. Mom drove us in the motorboat, and we practiced as directed between the dock and the raft, occasionally getting stung by jellyfish. I wanted to quit but my Mom emphatically said, “No”. She said that I must practice for two weeks and swim in one meet. I remember winning the 25-yard free. I am still swimming. 

Most of my growing up involved swimming in Wilmington, DE, with summer leagues, YWCA, YMCA, and AAU with Wilmington Aquatic Club. Then onto college at West Chester State (PA) and University of Colorado, receiving All-American awards all four years. After college, there were many years without swimming when I worked, married and raised two boys. But, when we moved to NH and I saw the 1992 USMS SCY Nationals would be at UNC, I started training regularly, with a friend. 

At the UNC meet, I approached the NEM group, easily identified with appropriate t-shirts and asked, “How do I get on a relay?” I was informed that the relays were already determined. Then, I won the 50 Free (40-44). Almost immediately, I was offered a spot on the 200 Medley with Sue Tendy, Gayle Wettach and Ann McDermott and the 200 Free with Gayle, Sue and Jenny Luker (both relays winning National Championships at the meet and All American that year). That was my introduction to many joyful years of competition and comradery both at local meets and traveling to Nationals. The many NEM Spring Harvard Meets have been particularly memorable giving me a chance to socialize and reconnect each year. 

I have noticed that I am getting slower as I age and health challenges have popped up, but swimming has been a constant part of my life. I am so honored by NEM and the NELMSC which has survived because of thousands of volunteer hours and good intentions. Thank you for this honor. I am hoping to swim and compete as long as I am able. Swimming provides challenge and feeds my heart and soul.

Rainy Goodale

Member 2008 - Present

• USMS All American Honors – 3 years, 6 Individual

• USMS Top Ten Achievements – 115 Individual

• NE LMSC Individual Records – 23 Current, 57 Lifetime

• USMS Certified Coach Levels 1, 2 & 3

• USMS Adult Learn to Swim Instructor

USMS Profile

I joined Masters in 2008 and currently swim in the 55-59 age group. I swim for the Granite State Penguins. I’m very blessed to have family and friends supporting my passion for swimming. 

I started swimming when I was 8 years old in Indonesia becoming a good breaststroker and swam for the Indonesian National from 1985 through 1990. I stopped swimming when I went to college in the US. I started back up again in 2008 after my third child and swam my 1st Nationals in Clovis, CA in 2009. 

Currently I work out with a number of different Masters swim groups. I live in Martha's Vineyard, when in Boston I swam with Boston University Masters, Cambridge Masters, Dedham Masters or join MIT to swim long course meters.

Masters swimming isn't just a hobby - it's my sanctuary, my challenge, and my joy. I'm honored to be included as a member of the NELMSC Hall of Fame Class of 2025. And I'm looking forward to many more years of splashing, striving, and hopefully succeeding!

Daniel "Dan" Moran

Member 2009 - Present

• USMS Pool All Star - 2018

• USMS All American Honors – 12 years, 27 Individual

• USMS Top Ten Achievements – 122 Individual

• USMS Long Distance All American – 2 years, 2 Individual

• NE LMSC Individual Records – 3 Current, 14 Lifetime

USMS Profile

Swimming is my refuge, and I’ve swum best when I’ve had a great team or partnership starting with my Dad.

My father shared stories from his brief swimming career while making me chase after him in the pool.  I laughed and swallowed gallons of water. His voice boomed, “turn your head to the side.”  When you're five, Dad is everything. Sink or swim lessons made my muscles burn.  I love that burn. 

On my first team, I was so small I barely came to the thighs of the timers on deck at the Watertown Boys and Girls Club. Swimming was an escape from an otherwise turbulent childhood.  We moved 13 times in 14 years. 

At age 14 I met two mentors.   Coach Roger Fickenscher swam with us in the morning under the direction of Tim Allen.  Roger introduced me to Master’s Swimming and worked to make me a better teammate.  Childhood had the side effect of making me fiercely independent, and since little else went well, I was cocky at the pool.  Roger and Tim helped me navigate those shortcomings.

Tim Allen was retired from the sport for 20 years when he met me at a rec swim.  We raced. I lost. He became my coach. I hung on to his every word. Tim taught me to trust, because Tim was there for me till 9 p.m. every weeknight for a year.  Tim taught the gallop stroke before Phelps made it popular.  We called it the ‘kick rhythm.’  

Swimming led me to Springfield College with help from both my Aunt, who worked there, and coach John Taffe.  At Springfield, I swam for the joy of being on a team.  Few moments in my career match the pride and joy I felt watching teammates make national cuts, or eking out close dual meet wins.  

Like Roger, I practiced with my athletes during morning lap swim at Wilbraham & Monson Academy.  We’d do all kinds of sets from 10X500 to the ‘poor man’s power tower,’ tying belts to pull each other across the pool. Special thanks to Kevin Lambert, Ania Axus, and Wenjun Chang who collectively kept me swimming for eleven years.  

The process leading to the 2014 World Master’s Championship was transformative.  Six weeks prior, I trained with Fritz Bedford under the direction of Barbara Hummel.  Barbara and Fritz reenergized my training.  Fritz and I were complementary pieces.  I needed speed, and I hope Fritz benefitted as much from my distance background.  

Shortly after Worlds, I formed a new partnership with Coach Erik Mandel. Erik runs morning workouts at the high school where he has coached for 20+ years.  We collaborate on workout modifications and have long conversations trading the latest swimming fads and debating which will stick.  Whenever I need company, Erik is at the pool, usually with a couple Masters athletes and a cadre of High School and College swimmers keeping swimming new and exciting even as I near 40 years in the sport.

Doris Hogan

Member 1974 - 1983

• USMS National Records – 16 Lifetime

• USMS All American Honors – 5 years, 27 Individual

• USMS Top Ten Achievements – 68 Individual

• NE LMSC Individual Records – 31 Lifetime

USMS Profile

Doris (Fitzgerald) Hogan was born on September 1, 1900, brought up in Springfield, Massachusetts, lived most of her adult life in the greater Boston area, eventually retiring to Glastonbury, Connecticut.

From 1915-1921 she had great success in swimming contests when competitive swimming was a new sport. At age 13 she won her first swimming cup in a race in the Connecticut River in 1915. In 1918 Doris won the women’s 100-yard race at a swimming carnival held at the Riverside pool in Springfield with a time of 1:31.6. 

At Sargent College in 1922 Doris “Fitzy” swam, dove and was manager of the varsity swimming team, which swam against Radcliffe at the Cambridge YMCA in the first women’s intercollegiate swimming meet held in America. Doris won first place in that meet and was elected captain of the 1923 Sargent team. 

From 1923 through 1933 Doris was director of physical education of public schools, first in Virginia and then in Massachusetts. In 1933 she married attorney John M. Hogan and started raising a family.

Doris entered her first Masters meet in December 1973. She arrived at the meet at the Medford High School pool with a friend who had casually suggested that she bring her suit along. It was only after she arrived that she realized that she was meant to be a participant in the meet rather than just a spectator.  Doris won two events she swam (70-74 age group) and both times set national records. 

Doris competed at Masters meets from 1974 through 1983.  She would wave to her fans as she swam, doing a racing dive for every race, saying that “there wouldn’t’ be staring blocks if we weren’t mean to use them,” answering the cheers of those urging her to keep going in a breaststroke race by saying at each breath, “I’m trying, I’m trying,” wearing her yellow terry-cloth sundress with her “All-American” patch displayed proudly on the front, her toenails painted red and showing brightly in her flip flops on the deck, her hugs of good luck wishes and congratulations, her giggle that one could see all over her face, her many ribbons, just about all of the blue, with every event, dated, time, and place written carefully on them, her team suit and loyalty to New England Masters. 

In 1978 she was on “Evening Magazine” a show which inspired hundreds of adults in New England to get into the swim, no matter what their age. She was also the subject of numerous newspaper and magazine articles in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maryland, and even Morocco, where she went to visit her daughter and family. The press dubbed her “The Swimming Grandmother”

Masters swimming remained her greatest joy until her death in 2020 at the age of 87.

Abraham “Abe” Olanoff

Member 1973 - 1995

• USMS National Records – 6 Lifetime

• USMS All American Honors – 8 years, 26 Individual

• USMS Top Ten Achievements – 276 Individual

• NE LMSC Individual Records – 5 Current, 165 Lifetime

USMS Profile

“You win a race before you start. If you decide to win, you’ll beat all your competitors.” This quote from Abe sums up his attitudes on life and how he chose to live it. He loved to compete at swim meets. He loved to help others, but most of all he loved his family.

Born in Lynn, Olanoff graduated from Classical HS and learned to swim at a young age. He used to swim at beaches in Lynn and Swampscott and taught swimming at summer camps in Maine and New Hampshire. He also helped blind people learn to swim at a weekly program at the JCC in Marblehead (now Northshore JCC).

Abe was coached by Jack Hayden and was one of the first swimmers from the JCC to become active in Masters swimming starting in 1972. He developed so well that he was named All American in the 200-yard breaststroke in 1978 and 100 IM in 1979.  In 1980 Abe ranked first in almost every event in NEM’s All Time Top Ten in the Men’s 70-74 age group. 

Abe credits Phil Whitten (an NEM member until moving to Arizona in 1992 and previous Editor in Chief of “Swimming World” and “SWIM” magazines) with being his mentor and encouraging him to compete. Whitten, however, credits Abe’s stubbornness as the main reason why he’s been so successful at the sport of swimming. Abe was disqualified because he didn’t lift his elbow out of the water. Phil reminded him that he was 85 and told him to forget it. Abe ignored him and insisted Phil connect him with a coach who helped him overcome the problem. It simply did not occur to Abe that this is something he cannot do because of his age.

In 1987 Abe had the fastest LCM times in the World in the 80-84 age group in the 200 Breast and 100 Fly, 2nd in the 800 Free, 50 Breast and 50 Fly and was top ten in 3 other events. All these times established New England records. 

In 1991 Abe broke the World Records in the 85-89 age group in the Long Course 50 and 100 Fly and 400 Individual Medley.

If Abe Olanoff had a day without a dip in the Marblehead JCC pool, he is literally like a fish out of water. Asked what he particularly likes about Masters swimming, he replied, “sociability, health, and personal achievement.” 

Laurence "Larry" Smith

Member 1972 - 1977

• USMS National Records – 14 Lifetime

• USMS All American Honors – 5 years, 24 Individual

• USMS Top Ten Achievements – 56 Individual

• NE LMSC Individual Records – 10 Lifetime

USMS Profile

Larry was an original member of New England Masters Swim Club founded in 1972. He swam at the Newton YMCA. In January of 1976 at the age of 64, he died of a massive heart attack during a swim workout. 

A member for only 5 years, he held NE LMSC records in the 60-64 SCY and LCM 50, 100 and 200 backstroke events. He broke the national record in the men’s 60-64 age group in the 200 yard back and was the backstroker on NEM’s 45+ men’s medley relay team with Ted Haartz (breast) Hal Onusseit (fly) and Ed Reed (free).

William "Bill" Yorzyk

Member 1975, 1980 - 1989

• USMS National Records – 14 Lifetime

• USMS All American Honors – 8 years, 24 Individual

• USMS Top Ten Achievements – 56 Individual

• NE LMSC Individual Records – 33 Lifetime

USMS Profile

Bill started swimming competitively at age 17, as a premed student at Springfield College in his hometown of Springfield, MA. “I’d always wanted to be an athlete in high school, but I was always the first kid cut from the baseball, basketball and football squads.” Red Silvia his college coach, saw something in a freshman who was for all intents and purposes a non-swimmer.  Bill had the drive, ambition and intelligence to follow though. 

Five years after joining the Springfield swim team, Yorzyk surprised every coach who had ever doubted his athletic ability. The 22-year-old competitor won a gold medal in the 200-meter butterfly at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia. He also set a world record of 2:18.03 for the event, which made its Olympic debut that year. 

“Nobody, but nobody, thought I would get a gold medal, much less a world record.” Yorzyk finished 10 yards ahead of the nearest competitor. “Getting that gold medal draped abound my neck in Melbourne was the most thrilling moment of my life, a very patriotic feeling.”

Yorzyk was the first competitor to swim the “dolphin-butterfly” stroke, using two kicks to one arm cycle, the first to use the every other stroke breathing cycle and the first to apply such principles of physics as the law of levers and the bending the elbow during the propulsive phase of the arm stroke, the laws of inertia in the arm stroke recovery. 

After graduating in 1960 from the University of Toronto Medical School, Yorzyk established a private practice in anesthesiology and took a lengthy hiatus from his sport. 

The New England All Time Top Tens show that back in 1975 Bill made a brief first appearance in Masters competition. “At age 40, I found myself fat and lazy”. Yorzyk quickly proved he could still race with the best. It was from 1981 through 1984 that Bill took Masters swimming most seriously. In 1983 at the age of 50, Bill set NE records in 12 events and a World Record in the 200 Fly. In 1989 at the age of 55 he set NE records in 4 events.

After 1984 Bill laid low until 1988 (an age up year to the 55-59 age group) and competed at 1988 and 1989 SC Nationals in Austin Texas and Boca Raton Florida. 1989 was the last year he competed (reconstructive shoulder surgery) earning All American honors in the Men’s 55-59 SCY 200 Fly.

The January 1990 issue of The Main Event, a sports journal for physicians, selected the 10 best physician-athletes of all time. Bill was selected for swimming (other notables – Tenley Albright – figure skating, Roger Bannister – track and field, Sammy Lee - diving, Benjamin Spock – rowing).

“Swimming in Masters events actually makes me look forward to getting older.”

Sue Jensen

Member 2008 - Present

• 2023 - USMS Dorothy Donnelly Service Award

• 2022 – Present NELMSC Championship Committee (Chair)

• 2015 – Present NELMSC Officials Chair

• USMS Certified Coach – Level 1, 2 &3

• USMS Adult Learn to Swim Instructor – ran the April is Adult Learn to Swim Month program teammates for 7 years (2014-2019 & 2022)

• USMS All American – 1 year, 1 Individual

• USMS Top Ten Achievements – 55 Individual

• NE LMSC Individual Records – 3 Current, 7 Lifetime

USMS Profile

I grew up in Bristol, Connecticut, the daughter of entirely unathletic parents. I learned to swim at the age of 7 at the local Girls’ Club. At the age of 8, I had a brief stint with synchronized swimming. In my first of several brushes over time with swimming greatness, my teammates were 5-year-old twins Karen and Sarah Josephson who, much later, won gold and silver at two Olympic Games.

My family had a backyard pool. During the summer, I was in it daily, rain or shine, doing flips off the diving board, playing Marco Polo, swimming underwater, pretending to be a mermaid, and swimming at night in the pitch black. I taught myself to swim butterfly by jumping – arms extended - from the shallow end to the deep end. 

In the summer, I swam with the Page Park Swim Team, just down the street, eating powdered Jello at swim meets between heats. In the winter, I swam for Coach David Tyler with the Greater Hartford AAU Suburban Swim Club (and with teammate Karen Smyers, future Triathlon World Champion). At St. Paul Catholic High School, as a senior I captained its swim team. 

Burned out and tired of swimming, I did not swim in college. In its place, I started a running career, which continued for 29 years till 2007. During that time, I trained with the Greater Boston Track Club and competed in many races: 5K, 10K, sprint triathlon, and three marathons (Cape Cod and two Boston Marathons). 

During those 29 years, I would jump into a pool from time to time, and considered joining a Master’s team, but my earlier swimming burnout held me back. The stars aligned in 2007 when a foot injury forced me to take a break from running and the middle of the day opened up because my kids were old enough to attend school. Cambridge Masters Swim Club at Harvard’s Blodgett pool offered coached noontime practices, and it has become my middle-of-the-day routine – and joy - for past 19 years.

I love being a part of a Master’s swim team, swimming 4-5 times a week. Now age 65, I pinch myself that I get to “play” every day with my friends, get daily exercise, while training hard for competitions. I am the current team’s “Captain” which means that behind the scenes, I am its primary administrator and on deck, its primary cheerleader. 

Over the years, I have attended numerous New England regional and USMS national meets, as well as three FINA World championships (Göteberg, Sweden; Riccione, Italy; and Budapest, Hungary). 

During the summer months, I swim with AquinAqua, an open water group on Martha’s Vineyard. We meet early mornings six days a week for a swim in Menemsha Pond, a beautiful way to start the day in the water under the big sky. I will be going on my first SwimTrek open water trip, to Greece, in the fall. 

I have been with the love of my life, Rob Schiller, also a swimmer, since 1986, and married since 1992. Of course, our first date was a swim date, at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin War Memorial pool. There we raced and I beat him (although he disputes that). We have two children - Harry, a law student, Ruby, an art historian, and for nearly 14 years Duncan, our golden retriever. 

I love to spend my spare time with my family, cook, entertain, travel, study French, bike, play the piano, and garden.

I am honored to be inducted into the 2025 Hall of Fame in the Contributor category.

Al Prescott

Member 2000 - Present

• 2023 - Colonies Zone “Dot” Award

• 2022 - USMS Dorothy Donnelly Service Award

• 2009-2011 - NELMSC Chair

• 2011-2021 - NELMSC Treasurer

• 2008 – Member USMS Communications Committee

• NELMSC Fitness Chair

• NEM VP of Communications

• USMS Certified Coach – Level 1

USMS Profile

My first memories of swimming are from Long Pond in Lakeville, MA where my grandparents had a lake house. After having learned to swim there circa 1978, I amazed/horrified my parents by swimming around Nelson Island, a distance just shy of a mile. Not bad for a 10-year-old with no other swimming experience, though far from safe.

Since I was forbidden from doing that again, and my mother had no urge to put me on a swim club, my next flirtation with swimming occurred in college. One of my fraternity brothers, Vinnay, asked for volunteers to do the intramural swim meet.  Again, I surprised everyone by scoring points in all my races (freestyle only since I had no clue how to do anything else).  By the end of college, I could score in the top three of all those events and even took second in the 200 free.  All of this in the "OLD WPI Pool", a 20 yarder under the old Alumni Gymnasium. That was January of 1990.

10 years later, I was flirting with Triathlons, and swimming at lunchtime with my work friend, Matt Camelio. Shortly after our nearby pool closed, Matt announced to me he had found a Masters team nearby and bonus: They had EVENING workouts. And so in January of 2000, I drove onto Hanscom Air Force Base for the first time and joined Minuteman Masters. Between Rich Axtell, Marc Broudy, Rick Battistini, and many others early on, I received awesome coaching, learned to do all the strokes, and competed at the Harvard Meet for the first time that very spring as well as Nationals that summer.

Within a few years I had finally started losing weight, got healthier and was in a much better place personally. I knew I wanted to give back to the sport that was helping me so much, so when Tom Lyndon asked me to write a monthly column in the NEM News newsletter, I agreed. That set me on an arc to more and more service to the greater New England and National organization. Eventually, I would go on to hold more offices and positions than I can remember at this point.

Though I had to step back from that level of volunteering to help family members in more recent years, I still swim 3-4 times per week and even host a small workout group at my lake house. As I write this, we have just boosted our morning swims from 1.4 miles to about 2. If my poor late mother only knew.

Douglas Sayles

Member 2009 – Present

• 2024 - USMS Ted Haartz Staff Appreciation Award recipient

• 2023-Present – LMSC Development Committee (Chair 2024-Present)

• 2023 - USMS Dorothy Donnelly Service Award recipient

• 2023 - NELMSC Distinguished Service Award recipient

• 2020-2022 – USMS Legislation Committee

• 2013, 2020-2021 - USMS Membership Committee

• 2021-Present - USMS Colonies Zone Chair

• 2019-2021 - USMS Colonies Zone Vice Chair

• 2019- USMS Governance Committee

• 2012-2015, 2019-Present - NELMSC Membership Coordinator

• 2015-2019 - NELMSC Chair

• 2016 - NELMSC Contributor of the Year recipient

• USMS Certified Coach – Level 1, 2 & 3

• USMS Adult Learn to Swim Instructor

• USMS Top Ten Achievements – 5 Individual

USMS Profile

Douglas Sayles is a dedicated leader in the Masters Swimming community whose passion for building inclusive swimming communities has helped countless others discover the lifelong benefits of swimming. 

Douglas joined U.S. Masters Swimming in 2009 and was first elected to the New England LMSC Board of Directors in 2012 as Registrar. He later served as Board Chair and Membership Coordinator and filled interim roles including Vice Chair, Open Water Chair, and Secretary. He has also led and contributed to special committees addressing grievances, COVID-19 relief, and championship event planning.

As an event director and organizer, Douglas has helped reinstate the annual Colonies Zone and NELMSC championship meets following the COVID-19 pandemic, establish new traditions like the New England College Club & Masters Swimming Meet, and coordinate the biennial USMS Boston Education Weekend. He also directs Swim Across America’s Rhode Island Open Water Swim — an 800-swimmer charity event that funds cancer research — and has helped plan and promote several other charity swim events.

Douglas is a member of SwimRI and New England Masters Swim Club and is a USMS-certified Level 3 coach and Adult Learn-To-Swim instructor and member of the American Swimming Coaches Association. He has coached workouts, organized swim clinics, fostered a unified SwimRI identity across venues, and coordinated many team-building swim and social events, such as the Stuffies vs. Steamers Meet, Hour Swim Heats, Friday Night Swim Fights, SwimRI Soiree, and Columbus Day 5K Ocean Swim.

At the national level, Douglas has served as Colonies Zone Chair, chaired the LMSC Development Committee since 2023, and previously served on the Legislation, Registration, and Governance committees. He has presented at and helped plan the USMS Volunteer Relay, attended Leadership Summits, and since 2012 been a member of the USMS House of Delegates.

Douglas has received several honors and awards recognizing his commitment to strengthening the Masters Swimming community and delivering impactful programs through strategic, mission-driven leadership: He is a 2025 “Contributor” inductee into the New LMSC Hall of Fame and has received the USMS Ted Haartz Staff Appreciation Award (2024), USMS Dorothy Donnelly Service Award (2023), NELMSC Distinguished Service Award (2023), and NELMSC Contributor of the Year Award (2016).

To view Douglas Sayles’ swimming CV, click here.

Gregory "Greg" O'Connor

Member 2009 - 2019

• 2019 - NE LMSC Frank Wuest Open Water Swimming Award

• 2018 – Inducted into the Vermont Open Water Swimming Hall of Fame

• 2021 - Kingdom Swim 25K, Lake Willoughby 30.6K

• 2018 - 2016 - End WET Red River Swim 58K, Massachusetts Bay 37K

• 2015 & 2018 - 8 Bridges Hudson River Swim (18.3 Miles, 19.8 Miles, 13.2 Miles, 15.0 Miles, 19.8 Miles, 15.7 Miles, 18.6 Miles

• 2015 - Swim the Suck 16.6K

• 2013 – Ice Mile Boston Harbor, Cape Circumnavigation Challenge 24.3K

• 2013 & 2019 - SCAR Swim Challenge (Saguaro Lake 15.2K, Canyon Lake 14.4K, Apache Lake 27.3K, Roosevelt Lake 10K)

• 2012 - Cape Cod Bay 30.5K

• 2011 - Lake Memphremagog 40.2K, Great Salt Lake Marathon Swim 13K, Manhattan Island Marathon Swim 45.9K

• 2010 - Boston Light 25.2K, Catalina Channel 32.3K

• 2009 & 2010 - Kingdom Swim 16.1K

• 2006 & 2008 - Boston Light Swim 12.6K

• Founder and former president of Massachusetts Open Water Swimming Association

• Former Race Director of the Boston Light Swim 

• Revived the cross Caps Cod Bay swim

• Pioneered the first Massachusetts Bay 25-mile swim from Gloucester to Scituate

• First 4-way crossing (20 miles) of Lake Willoughby in Vermont

• Key volunteer for Northeast Kingdom events (safety director for the winter swim, always on the support boats for the Kingdom swim, etc.)

USMS Profile

Greg O'Connor is a 56-year-old husband, father, cancer research scientist, handyman, marathon swimmer, ice swimmer and contributor. He is a member of the Wayland Community Pool Masters group. For 10 years, O’Connor was the organizer of Boston Light Swim, the oldest marathon swim in North America, the founder of the Massachusetts Open Water Swimming Association, a co-founder of Vampire Swim, and a regular L Street swimmer in Boston. 

He is an accomplished and recognized ultra-marathon swimmer, having completed the Catalina Channel, MIMS, END-WET, SCAR (twice), completed the 25-mile In Search of Memphre in 2011, the 20-mile Cape Code Bay (P2P), first to cross the 23-mile Massachusetts Bay, completed the entire 120-mile 8-Bridges Swim and set the co-record with Elaine Howley in the Boston Light 16-mile double crossing for which he has been acknowledged by IMSHOF and WOWSA. The fastest BLS Double is currently held by Alana Aubin. He was the first to complete a four-way (20-mile) Lake Willoughby crossing in 2021. O'Connor completed an Ice Mile under the auspices of the International Ice Swimming Association in South Boston on 6 April 2013. He has helped organize the annual Memphremagog Winter Swim Festival since 2016 and the annual Boston Frogman Swim since 2019.  He has acted as the safety officer, observer and escort in countless open water events.

Greg O'Connor had the honor of being selected as the 2014 Northeast Kingdom Open Water Swimming Association Unsung Hero of the Year. He was named a 2014 MSF Global Marathon Swimming Award finalist in the Streeter Award for Service to Marathon Swimming category. Greg was nominated as a finalist for the 2016 Yudovin Award for Most Adventurous Swim award by the Marathon Swimmers Federation for the first solo trans-Massachusetts Bay crossing from Gloucester to Strawberry Point, Scituate, a swim of 24.2 miles in 14 hours 55 minutes on 15 August 2016. He was also nominated for the Streeter Award for Service to Marathon Swimming in 2016 by the Marathon Swimmers Forum. He was inducted in the Vermont Open Water Swimming Hall of Fame in 2018.  O’Connor was an honored 2019 recipient of the Frank Wuest Open Water Swimming Award sponsored by NELMSC.

Martha Wood

Member 2014 - Present

• 2024 - Champion of Champions, Cork Distance Week, Ireland, 5 miles + 3 miles + 1 mile (9 miles), Nubble Light Swim, 2.4 miles, Egg Rock Scramble, 3.7 miles, 

• 2023 - Champion of Champions, Cork Distance Week, Ireland, 5 miles + 3 miles + 1 mile (9 miles), Catalina Channel, 21 miles

• 2022 - SCAR Challenge: Saguaro, 13.3 km, SCAR Challenge: Canyon, 14.1 km, SCAR Challenge: Appache, 22.8 km, SCAR Challenge: Roosevelt, 10 km, English Channel, 21 miles

• 2021 - 10-mile Kingdom Swim, 20 Bridges Marathon Swim, 28.5 miles

• 2019 - Champion of Champions, Cork Distance Week, Ireland, 5 miles + 3 miles + 1 mile (9 miles), 3rd Place woman overall, Lee Vibes and Scribes Swim, Cork Ireland, 2km, 1st in age group, St. Vincent Swim Across the Sound, 25km, 1st place female overall, USMS Lake Willoughby National Championships, 5 miles, 3rd in age group

• 2018 - Lee Vibes and Scribes Swim, Cork Ireland, 2km, 1st in age group, Champion of Champions, Cork Distance Week, Ireland, 5 miles + 3 miles + 1 mile (9 miles),

• Misery Challenge, Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA, 3 miles, 1st in age group skins, Kingdom Swim, Newport, VT, 25 km Border Buster, 2nd Place female, 3rd overall

• 2017 - Peaks to Portland, Portland ME, 2.4 miles, 2nd place female skins, Boston Light Swim, Boston MA, 8 miles, 2nd place female, 5th overall, Coney Island Triple Dip, 3 miles, 2nd Place female, Spuyten Duyvil 10km

• 2016 - Kingdom Swim, Newport, VT, 10-mile, 4th place female skins overall (National championship)

• 2015 - Kingdom Swim, Newport, VT, 6-mile, Misery Challenge, Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA, 3 miles, Boston Light Swim, Boston, MA, 8 miles

USMS Profile

Martha A. Wood grew up in New Hampshire immersed in a life as a competitive swimmer.  She went on to swim her sophomore year, and captain the first women’s water polo team at Harvard. She swam on and off after college, including for the Calgary Masters Swim Club from 1991-1997, before taking a 15-year break from swimming.  

In her fifties, she returned to swimming near her home on the North Shore of Boston. Stepping beyond the walls of the pool, she took to the ocean. In the Fall, as she put off returning to the confines of the pool, her swims became increasingly cold. A few months later, in the aftermath of a life-threatening medical debacle, she left the hospital with a resolution to make the most of the time she had left on earth:  To connect in a meaningful way with the world and people around her -- to be bold, live fearlessly and find joy.  

After swimming her way back to health in a pool, she tracked down a winter swimming group, called the Nahant Knuckleheads, and joined them for weekly swims in the icy waters of South Boston and Nahant. The Knuckleheads and L Street Ice Swimmers became the best of friends, inspiring and guiding her on an unexpected journey into ice and open water marathon swimming.

Since 2015, Martha has trained in the winters with Masters swim teams (Charles River Masters, and Cambridge Masters) typically competing in 1-2 meets per season. Each summer, she challenges herself with an open water marathon swim -- leaving the pool for long training swims in the ocean and ponds. Most recently, she has gone on to complete the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming comprised of the 20 Bridges swim around Manhattan (2021), the English Channel (2022) and the Catalina Channel (2023). In Ice swimming, she has competed at World Championships, winning several age group medals and setting a few age group world records. In November of 2024, she became the 47th person to swim a kilometer in Antarctica.