Feb. 23, 2002 – It's getting on toward March, which means it's time to gear up for the 2002 Snapple Swim-O-Thon, the St. Thomas Swimming Association's 15th annual fund-raising aquatic event.
This year's meet is once again at Magens Bay, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 16, with headquarters at shed No. 2.
The meet will be preceded by the 2nd annual Biathlon STAR, in conjunction with the St. Thomas Association of Roadrunners, starting at 7 a.m. Initiated last year, the half-mile swim and three-mile run event was a rousing success, with 38 participants ranging from 19 to 53 years of age.
This year's Swim-O-Thom has special significance: It comes three months before the planned opening of the STSA pool at the Nazareth Aquatic Center, the project that has been the main objective for the years of fund-raising.
Katherine Huttel, STSA executive director, hopes the money raised at this year's event will finally "open the doors" to the pool. Participants and teams taking part line up pledges from individual or corporate sponsors that will be based on the number of marked-off lengths they can swim in an hour. Last year's "Strokes in the Right Direction" by 172 swimmers raised about $20,000 toward the pool project.
Huttel emphasizes that the aquatic center will be not just a swimming pool but a facility with the infrastructure for hosting competitions as well as serving the community, including access for persons with disabilities and senior citizens.
Over the years, Huttel has stuck with the struggle to find funds, as well as with the work of teaching youngsters at Magens Bay to get over their fear of water, to swim, and then, in the case of many, to swim competitively. Beaches abound on St. Thomas, but she says the youngsters need a pool — to learn, to train, to compete, and just to swim in on days when the weather is bad or the surf is too high at the beach.
The STSA pool fund got big boosts from a Royal Caribbean International/Celebrity Cruises leadership gift of $100,000 in 1999 and a government appropriation of $250,000 last year spearheaded by Sen. Alicia "Chucky" Hansen. However, most of the association's funding has come over the years from corporate and individual donations and the annual Swim-O-Thon.
Bellows International, distributor of Snapple, has sponsored the event for years. Schools, teams, businesses, organizations and individuals are welcome to participate, Huttel says. To obtain registration information or to volunteer to help out, call the association at 779-2500.
