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Swim the Strait
CBC Radio and Televison | July 28, 2005

When Kristin Roe started her pool training last winter for a crossing of the Northumberland Strait the event must have seemed a long way off. Now, it's behind her: a swim of seven hours and forty five minutes, more than two hours faster than her best hopes.

Kristin Roe

Roe undertook the swim in the hopes of raising $20,000 in support of people with HIV/AIDS. Half of that will go to people on the Island, and the other half to the Stephen Lewis Foundation for support of people in Africa.

The first successful crossing of the Strait was by Evelyn Henry in 1951, a feat repeated by her daughter Andrea Brown in 1989. Roe has been receiving advice on the swim from Barb McNeill, who swam the Strait in 1987. McNeill went on to swim the English Channel in 1989.

Roe swam competitively at university, specializing in long distances - up to five kilometres - and she never felt the races were long enough. But she is more excited by what her efforts could achieve in the fight against HIV. She has been passionate about the issue since hearing Stephen Lewis speak at the University of Guelph in 2001.

Kristen Roe at Eliot River School as part of the fundraising launch

Kristin spoke at an event
at Eliot River School as part
of the fundraising launch.

"People are going to take a look at our history books of this generation and they're going to see a few major items that come up in our history," says Roe, "and one of them is going to be HIV and AIDS."

Roe has now raised close to $15,000, and her fundraising efforts continue.

CBC News coverage from the day of the swim:

From July 28, 2005: Swim under way
From July 28, 2005: Roe completes swim

Intended path across the Northumberland Strait
From Cape Tormentine, N.B. to Borden-Carleton, P.E.I.

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