Going swimmingly: Women to swim 163 km of Diefenbaker

Six swimmers are going to take turns until they’ve covered 163 kilometres of Lake Diefenbaker. 

The Diefenbaker Dip: 163 Swim is a fundraiser for the La Ronge Native Women’s Council and YWCA Regina. It’s the third straight year for the fundraiser.

The event is named in honour of the one lake, six swimmers and three days involved in the 163km marathon swim. The goal is to raise $10,000 for the shelters.

Dionne Tatlow, one of the long-distance swimmers taking part, told Gormley they’ll swim day and night as they look to cover the length of Lake Diefenbaker in three days.

“We are going to start Tuesday at 5 a.m., weather permitting and we will swim continuously until we finish,” she said. “We’ll each take an hour-long shift and we will rotate through until we get where we’re going.”

Tatlow is to be joined by Adrien van Dyke, Elise Truscott, Kelsey van Dyke, Meghan Chisholm and Nichole Robinson.

Tatlow estimated the swim would take about 60 hours to complete. 

“(We’ll be swimming at) anywhere from like 2.5 to 3.5 kilometres an hour depending on conditions — wind, waves, all that fun stuff,” Tatlow said.

Donations can be made through the Diefenbaker Dip’s Facebook or Instagram pages.