UofG swimmer completes 30-km fundraising swim in a pool

Poor weather conditions may have caused Coralee Allaert to postpone plans to swim across Lake Erie this past summer, but she hasn’t given up on the idea. And she didn’t want to leave her sponsors and donors hanging in the meantime.

Late last month the University of Guelph student took on the challenge of swimming 30 km in a Mississauga pool as a way of saying “thank you” to those who have stepped up to support her and her fundraising campaign known as “Beyond Horizons,” with money going to Jack.org, an organization that aims to help Canadian youth experiencing mental health struggles.

“It was really taxing,” Allaert said of pool swim, noting it’s challenging both physically and mentally. “There’s not a lot of moving parts and you’re essentially looking at black lines for 12 hours.

“The last 25 metres of the swim, I was just balling my eyes out,” she added, noting the lack of physical contact with anyone, including her coach who was present, throughout. “To have my coach there and give me a hug when I was done was just the best reward.”

Initially, Allaert planned to swim across Lake Erie in August, but that was moved to September because of poor weather conditions. Then that too was postponed.

“It’s just still so surreal that I was able to channel my energy,” she said, referring to the physical strength needed to swim that distance and duration. “I wanted to prove to myself that I was able to do it, to get information about myself as a person, within my own personal mental health.”

Allaert, who acknowledges her own mental health issues, hopes others feel inspired by what she’s accomplished.

“You can struggle and still do things to improve your mental health,” she said, pointing to physical activity as one of those ways. “When I was struggling … it was hard to get out of bed, it was hard to do daily tasks.”

So far Allaert has collected nearly $6,500 in pledges, nearly half way to the campaign’s stated goal.

Despite having completed the 30 km pool swim, Allaert plans to keep the fundraiser going until she achieves her goal of swimming across at least one of the Great Lakes.

Her plan is to swim across Lake Ontario next year, which is 52.2 km, and possibly Lake Erie as well.