BY SHERRY CONOHAN
Staff Writer
Michelle Davidson (l) of the Oakhurst section of Ocean Township and Nancy Steadman Martin of Oceanport are training together for their planned swims across the English Channel in August.
OCEANPORT — Two area women plan to swim the English Channel this summer.
Nancy Steadman Martin, of Oceanport, and Michelle Davidson, of the Oakhurst section of Ocean Township, are training together for their back-to-back swims, scheduled for Aug. 7-14. They just completed a grueling 24-mile race in Tampa Bay April 17 which they regard as a tune-up.
Martin, 49, finished the Tampa Bay Swim in 10 hours and six minutes, while Davidson, 33, finished just seven minutes later in 10 hours and 13 minutes.
Davidson is the lifeguard captain in Ocean Grove during the summer.
Martin said they were the only two women to finish the Tampa Bay race.
Martin, who has continued to swim competitively since getting out of college, said the longest distance she has ever swum was 28 1/2 miles around Manhattan Island, which she has done twice — in 2003 and 1984.
On her last outing she did it in eight hours and eight minutes. She did that in a shorter time than the Tampa Bay race, even though the distance was longer because favorable currents helped her. In Tampa Bay, she said, there was either no current at times or the current worked against the swimmers.
She said the distance across the English Channel is a little over 20 miles, but most of those who try to cross it swim 26 to 30 miles because of the currents.
Martin said she is scheduled to cross the channel first, with Davidson following on the next day. She said she would go on the first good day in their weeklong window. The same boat and pilot will accompany both of them on their respective swims from England to France, she added.
Martin graduated from Asbury Park High School in 1972 and from what was then Monmouth College in West Long Branch in 1976. After teaching school for 14 years, she entered Seton Hall Law School in Newark, from which she graduated in 1993.
She now is a partner in a Red Bank law firm with Linda Kenney.
Her father, Richard E. Steadman, was the swimming coach at Monmouth College for 20 years and the school’s swimming pool is named for him.
Martin said her mother, Doris Steadman, is still swimming competitively at the age of 79 and is eagerly looking forward to turning 80 in October so that she will be the youngest in her age category and can set more records.
"She still holds the records in her present age group, but she worries that someone younger is going to come along and break them," she added.
Similarly, Martin said, she’s looking forward to turning 50 this year and becoming the youngest competitor in her new age category.
Martin said she and Davidson swim at the Red Bank Y with a group of about 20 people who range in age from about 30 to 50.
"We all have a lot of fun," she said. "It’s like as an adult you still have play time."
Martin said that as part of their training for the channel swim, she and Davidson swam in the ocean every single weekend during the winter.
When the temperature was in the 30s, they didn’t stay in long, but they didn’t miss a week. "We went snow, rain, whatever," she explained.
This past Saturday the temperature was 53 degrees, and they swam for an hour. She said the temperature in the English Channel in August should be between 60 and 65. In Tampa Bay, the temperature was 70 degrees.
"I like the challenge of swimming," Martin said of her staying at it for so long. "I’ve always wanted to swim the English Channel."
"Some very good swimmers don’t finish crossing the English Channel. They’ve gotten stopped just a mile from the end," she observed.
"Anything can happen," she said. "That’s why you prepare so hard and hope that you can overcome any difficulty that should occur."