A mysterious Red River swimmer

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/09/2020 (1863 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I learned recently it is best to carry a working cell phone at all times.

While cycling over the Disraeli Active Transportation Bridge, I looked out to the picturesque vista of the 1882 Louise Bridge and noticed a person’s head bobbing just above the water. A man was intermittently swimming, sometimes just bobbing, right down the centre of the river — but he seemed in no distress.

As the current brought him closer, I called out to ask if he was all right. In a strong voice he said he was — the water was heating him.

Without my cell phone, I was unable to call 911. I noticed a life preserver in its holder on the bridge, and asked if he wanted it. He didn’t and I wondered if he had a death wish.

“The undertow only gets you if you jump in from a bridge. I walked in at the Forks,” he shouted. 

Another cyclist stopped but continued on, saying “Guy seems all right.” 

Then another cyclist stopped, and she called emergency services on her cell phone.

The swimmer was finally brought to shore past the Redwood Bridge. Responders in a Zodiac watercraft flanked him from Michaëlle Jean Park to where he was ushered onto shore past the old Paddlewheel Dock, seemingly in conversation all the while. A large emergency response team with many vehicles and personnel had assembled on the Redwood Bridge and along the river.

The City declined comment on the dangerousness of the river, but in June Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service deputy chief Russ Drohomereski had said the river was much more dangerous than it appears. 

“If you look at the Red (River), it doesn’t seem to be moving quite as fast on the surface but once you’re actually in the water it’s moving quite quickly.”

The Red’s bottom is slippery, deep mud and the sediment in the water means visibility is poor. The river also contains  refuse such as broken concrete, submerged logs and trees, fishing line, hooks and broken bottles. Walking into it isn’t a safe idea. There can be things like water-logged tree trunks that sit just below the river’s surface, and invisible currents can prevent someone from breaking surface even from a slight submersion.

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Returning to East Kildonan over the Redwood Bridge, I saw the swimmer was on shore, wearing shorts and a red T-shirt emblazoned with “Winnipeg” across his chest. He didn’t seem tired in the least. He was moving away from the rescue vehicle at river side and was walking barefoot onto Redwood Avenue, talking emphatically and raising his arms to make a point to a responder alongside him.

An inquiry to the City indicated the man “did not require transport to hospital.”

One can only wonder why he took a death-defying swim the Red.

What is certain is that many people cared that he did, and  were there to help him away from the risk that was so near, but which he felt was so far away.

Shirley Kowalchuk is a Winnipeg writer who loves her childhood home of East Kildonan where she still resides. She can be reached at sakowalchuk1@gmail.com

Shirley Kowalchuk
East Kildonan community correspondent

Shirley Kowalchuk is a Winnipeg writer who loves her childhood home of East Kildonan, where she still resides. She can be reached at sakowalchuk1@gmail.com

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