What motivated Katie Pumphrey to swim from Bay Bridge to Inner Harbor? The ultra-marathon swimmer explains.
BALTIMORE -- Ultra-marathon and open-water swimmer Katie Pumphrey made history by conquering a 24-mile swim from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to Baltimore's Inner Harbor.
The 36-year-old completed the swim on June 25 in 13 hours and 54 minutes.
Pumphrey stopped by WJZ to explain why she attempted the challenge and what motivated her to complete the mission.
What was the motivation?
She said she accepted the Waterfront Partnership's mission to prove we are that much closer to having a swimmable harbor.
"The Bay was beautiful," Pumphrey said. "It definitely was a little saltier in the beginning, and when we made our way into the Patapsco, it got a little fresher."
Pumphrey told WJZ that the taste of the water is a sign that the body of water is clear to swim and fish.
"A big way that swimmers share how things feel is the taste of the water, which you can't help but taste it," Pumphrey said. "I've swum in a lot of bodies around the world and it tastes like any other river I've been in and that's a really good sign."
Baltimore is her home
Pumphrey has swam in a lot of rivers.
In 2018, an exhausted Pumphrey earned the triple crown of swimming after finishing three historically important swims, including swimming the English Channel.
However, Baltimore is her home and this particular swim was personal.
"I did swim the backstroke under the last span of the Key Bridge, which was pretty powerful," Pumphrey said.
Having the support
Pumphrey was emotional when she completed the nearly 14-hour swim.
"I was sobbing, which I knew would be emotional, but it caught me off guard a bit," Pumphrey said.
Pumphrey said distance swims can cause dehydration, but her husband and her crew were aggressive and provided fluids and nutrition every half hour.
Pumphrey said the support group toward the end of the swim helped her finish.
"Then later my friend put on Bohemian Rhapsody by the Muppets," she said. "We made our way, kind of made the turn into Harborplace and past the aquarium and I saw, like colors, you're only this high above the water and it was, 'Oh my gosh those are people."
As Pumphrey reached her destination at the Inner Harbor, the crowd of people were cheering for her, giving her that extra boost.
"I kept having to stop crying and my goggles were filling with tears," Pumphrey said. "All day there was just this feeling of support which was just magical. "It was also such a show of Baltimore. You know, Baltimore shows up for each other and they really did."
"I love swimming so much"
Pumphrey has been swimming since she was 5 years old and trains year-round for long swims.
She trains mostly in pools, so the open water can be unpredictable.
"I love swimming so much," Pumphrey said. "It's woven into my life. I love training. I love being in the water."
Pumphrey hopes her swim will inspire others to take on the 'Bay to Baltimore' challenge.
However, she is not encouraging anyone to jump into the Inner Harbor; it should be done only when safety is assured.
Pumphrey's next swim is at the end of July in Southern California where she will swim the Catalina Channel for a second time.
Artist by day
Pumphrey, by profession, is an artist; a painter and sculptor and a Sondheim semifinalist this year.
Her visual imagination, she says, feeds her mind as she swims. but even she can hit the wall and it happened on the Patapsco around the 12th hour.
"It was the time in the afternoon when the current was most against me as we were approaching Fort McHenry and I was really struggling," Pumphrey said. "Then a little bit on the horizon, this is going to sound crazy, but I saw a pirate ship and I knew it was my sister."
