On a straight line from Evanston to Chicago it's 26.4 miles. But when you swim it along the shoreline it adds up to more than 30 miles. When Nial Funchion arrived at Hammond Beach this morning, his family, friends and fellow Chicago Police Marine Unit officers were there cheering on his victory over exhaustion.
Nial Funchion:It was a lot harder than I thought.
Frank Mathie:You just smashed the other guy's record!
Funchion: Yeah, I guess so.
Mathie:It wasn't even close
Funchion: I really had to dig deep on this one. I don't think I'm going to do any more of these. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
He started out last night from the Juneway Terrace Beach on the border between Chicago and Evanston, and then he stroked his way through the night and into the morning until he reached his goal over 30 miles away.
"I have a craving for a bagel with peanut butter and jelly," said Funchion.
Last year an Englishman named Kevin Murphy did the same swim. He started out at Calvary Cemetery in Evanston and ended up in Hammond. Bit it took Murphy almost 24 hours to make the swim. Funchion did it in 14 hours and 45 minutes. But then again Murphy wasn't surprising his girlfriend with an engagement ring at the end of the marathon. A ring that went along on the swim.
"Right at the end he pulled it out of his Speedo," laughed Peg Dempsey, newly engaged to Funchion.
"You had the ring in your Speedo. How did you keep it in there?" said Mathie.
"I wrapped it up in duct tape," said Funchion.
"Another use for duct tape," said Mathie.
So Nial Funchion sets the Chicago shoreline swim record and he gets engaged to Peggy dempsey. Duct tape will keep them together.
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