Ex-Winnipegger taking second shot at Grand Beach-to-Gimli fundraising swim

Jonathon Fenton has some unfinished business in Lake Winnipeg.

Last summer, the 62-year-old attempted to swim from Grand Beach to Gimli, making it 16 kilometres before shoulder problems forced him to stop.

Now, the two-time cancer survivor, who lives in Alberta but grew up in Winnipeg, is returning for a second try — hoping to complete the crossing while raising money for cancer care and research through the second year of his Jonny’s Big Swim fundraiser.

Fenton will get at it Saturday morning, weather and water conditions permitting. The full route from Grand Beach to Gimli is about 26 kilometres, though Fenton said he may stop at Willow Point, just south of Gimli, which would shorten the swim to roughly 22 kilometres.

Last year, he raised about $42,000 for the Alberta Cancer Foundation, CancerCare Manitoba Foundation and Health Sciences Centre Foundation. Currently, he’s sitting at about $33,000 in pledges, with supporters committing money for every kilometre he completes.

“I just remember at the time being, like, ‘I want to do this again,’” said Fenton. “I want to finish it.”

Fenton was first diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 1999 while living in Japan. He returned to Winnipeg for treatment, spending time at Health Sciences Centre and receiving care through CancerCare Manitoba.

Twenty years later, the cancer returned.

He underwent a stem cell transplant at Calgary’s Tom Baker Cancer Centre in January 2020. He has been cancer-free since.

“I just want to give them a little inspiration,” Fenton said, referring to people currently going through cancer treatment. “They see an old geezer attempting to swim across, and he’s fairly healthy, and maybe it gives them hope that, ‘Hey, I might get through this.’”

The pledges range from $1.50 per kilometre to $200.

“It’s just a cool way to go this year, to have a nice motivation to try to keep going,” he said.

Fenton has been swimming for about 30 years, including competing in triathlons and aquabikes. The idea for a major open-water swim came after his 60th birthday, when he and his wife watched a film about 64-year-old Diana Nyad’s 177-kilometre swim from Cuba to Florida in 2013.

Lake Winnipeg was a natural choice for Fenton, who grew up in Fort Garry and spent summers at Victoria Beach.

He has spent the past year preparing for another attempt, including working with a physiotherapist on exercises to strengthen his shoulders.

“I have no idea how it’s going to pan out, but we’ll just give it the old college try,” he said.

After last year’s venture, he heard from Kathie McIntosh, who was the first person to swim across Lake Winnipeg in 1955.

McIntosh was 20 when she made the crossing after her first attempt was stopped by poor weather. Now 92, she reached out to Fenton after hearing about his swim.

“She really kind of inspired me to go again,” he said.

Fenton hopes his second attempt can also offer a lesson in persistence to people going through cancer treatment. He said it can be difficult to look at months of chemotherapy or radiation ahead of you and imagine making it to the other side.

He approaches the swim the same way — by breaking it into one-kilometre pieces.

“If I think, ‘Oh, 26K,’ you know, it’s just too hard to process,” he said. “But if I’m just like, ‘Oh, I’m just going to go for one kilometre. I’m going to do another one,’… just take it like that. It’s kind of the same as treatment. Hey, I got chemo this week. Let me deal with this week. Well, I’m not going to think about six months from now. Let me just focus on the task at hand.”

On Saturday, Fenton will try to do just that, taking the swim one kilometre at a time until he reaches either Willow Point or Gimli.

“Touching the rocks as I come up,” he said. “I would love to reach that.”

To donate or pledge per kilometre, visit https://jonnysbigswim.com

zoe.pierce@freepress.mb.ca