Women Swimmin’ 2024: A powerful show of strength returns

Shane Eversfield has trained the brave volunteer swimmers for Women Swimmin’ for the past 12 years.

“Women Swimmin’, as a passage across the lake from the shore to the west, is a powerful metaphor for our passage from this life. Held this year on Aug. 10, it is a joyful, supportive celebration and a true quest to ‘go the distance,’” Eversfield said. “Three hundred women who have trained and planned will swim across Cayuga Lake to raise money for Ithaca-Cortland’s amazing Hospicare services.”

This year, the event will offer free, open water lake swimming clinics to all registrants in the weeks before the event. The hope is that this will allow swimmers to be more comfortable and welcoming of the challenging conditions that can arise. 

“State of mind is important, and with experience and calm, swimmers can embrace and navigate these conditions,” Eversfield said. 

Sara Worden, communications and outreach specialist at Hospicare, has been deeply involved in preparation for this event for five years. “We are so grateful for the many ways that [Eversfield] has supported the swim,” she said. “Many of our swimmers, including myself, are more confident open-water swimmers because of his terrific classes.”

This year, all swimmers will have a highly visible, inflated swim buoy, thanks to the work of Sue Norberg Hanrahan of Island Fitness and Health Center, a major supporter of Hospicare.

Last year, due to high winds, the event was canceled, but even then, the swimmers raised over $600,000.  

“And for someone making their passage from this life, the funding raised by Women Swimmin’ will provide the comfort, guidance and support that our renowned Hospicare provides,” Eversfield said. 

“I’m continually inspired by the stories of swimmers and why they choose to participate in support of Hospicare,” Worden said.

Karli Buday has been swimming across the lake with Hospicare for eight years and started serving on the safety committee in 2023.  “Water is very natural to me,” Buday said, “and I’ve been swimming all my life. I got involved in Women Swimmin’ because when I was in college, my grandmother was served by hospice. Not only did it make her end of life better, but my whole family benefited.”

In addition to Women Swimmin’, Buday is very involved with the Special Olympics and serves as the area coordinator for local events. Every year, she does Women Swimmin’ with someone with special needs, which has given her a unique perspective on the swim and a very personal appreciation of the event’s accessibility to a wide range of women.
 
“The event is a beautiful community gathering,” she said. “Everyone gets to swim at their own pace. I think it’s so successful because of the whole community aspect. It doesn’t matter if you are a good swimmer or a slow swimmer. It’s all about getting the support you need to meet your goal, which is just like the mission of Hospicare. Whatever you need at the moment is fine. It could be flippers or just a compassionate paddler at your side. It’s just like hospice care. The priority is to do whatever you can do to make the patient and family feel at peace and be comfortable.”  

The event also relies on the support of sponsors and paddlers. Sue Sherman-Broyles, a Realtor living in Cortland, has been involved with Women Swimmin’ for the past three years. She has been a corporate sponsor and a boater. She has also gone the distance by fundraising. Several of Sherman-Broyles’ family members have received hospice care services. She said, “It’s a relief to know that someone else is managing all those big decisions.”

“When my brother died at the age of 66, I realized that grieving is the longing for the things that you never actually had,” Sherman-Broyles added. “The daydreams about what you were going to do in the future are the hardest. My brother taught us that if there is a choice between watching and playing, always choose to play.” 

On swim day, swimmers form “pods” or groups of women who swim across the lake together. 

Sarah Harrington has been swimming with the Sparkle Stars, who wear watermelon swimsuits, since 2019. Getting to know a wide range of swimmers has been a benefit of getting involved. 

“I really enjoy the people who participate,” Harrington said. “They are all ages and ability levels. It’s accessible to lots of people.”

“My first swim was fun!” she added. “You get in and swim with a group of friends. Plus, there is such a warm welcome at the [Ithaca] Yacht Club. People are wrapping you in towels and congratulating you. It feels great.”

If you sign up to swim across and back Cayuga Lake to raise funds for Women Swimmin’, you can take Eversfield’s renowned swim training, going on now at Island Health and Fitness Center at no charge to upcoming Women Swimmin’ folks.

As Eversfield noted, “When we support Women Swimmin’ each stroke, each dollar raised makes our Hospicare’s invaluable, expert and compassionate support available to more of us and our loved ones when they are crossing over. “

Sign up to support Women Swimmin’ on Aug. 10, 2024, by visiting womenswimmin.org.