Marilyn Bell
When the Canadian National Exhibition offered a famed American distance swimmer a $10,000 prize to conquer Lake Ontario, a 16-year-old Toronto schoolgirl decided that just wouldn’t do — a Canadian needed to be the first to swim the 52-kilometre distance.
So, Marilyn Bell entered the water in Youngstown, N.Y., on Sept 8, 1954, just after 11 p.m. For 21 hours straight she swam and swam. Fueled by pabulum and corn syrup, she battled waves as high as four metres, lamprey eels attaching to her arms and legs and, most of all, her own exhaustion and desire to quit.
There were hourly radio reports and countless newspaper editions detailing her progress and when word came that she was heading for shore near Sunnyside Beach, after swimming some 64 kilometres because of currents and misdirection, there was traffic mayhem as people raced for the lake.
Pale and shaking, Bell emerged from the water a Canadian hero.