Queenstown’s intrepid Southern Lakes Swimming Club’s (SLSC) latest challenge is not ‘climb every mountain’ but ‘swim every lake’.
It’s challenging swimmers, from wherever, to swim every named lake in the South Island — that’s 344 bodies of water — between yesterday and May 1.
For ‘Lake Attack Aotearoa’ — the idea of club member Marijn Wouters, who’s subsequently built an interactive website, lakeattack.co.nz — you only need to swim for 10 minutes.
The greater challenge, SLSC president Sheena Ashford-Tait admits, is accessing so many of the lakes, especially those in remote parts of Fiordland.
‘‘Some of our members have already got two-day hikes planned to get to places that are just so remote.’’
As they tick off each lake, they’re also asked to note down water condition and temperature.
‘‘I talked to the president of New Zealand Masters Swimming and he thought it was a crazy idea — he said it was impossible, but you should do it anyway.’’
There’ll be bragging rights for who notches up the most lakes, spends longest in the water and swims the farthest.
