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After taking on both mouthfuls of Hudson River water and a festering “river rash” while swimming around Manhattan last year, Jill Jamieson decided that long distance swimming was just her cup of tea.
Jamieson, now 60, said that while it was challenging, it was also invigorating – and she wanted more.
Last week, Jamieson used the waters of Dorchester Bay at Carson Beach and Castle Island to train for the Catalina Channel Swim in California, which is the second leg of what’s known as the Triple Crown Open Water Swim.
Jamieson swimming in Dorchester Bay off Carson Beach on Aug. 28. She has been completing training swims of five hours, three hours, and now two hours. Seth Daniel photo
The three ultra swims include a lap around Manhattan, the Catalina Channel, and, finally, the English Channel.
“Manhattan was a 28.5-mile swim and I did a complete lap around Manhattan on a blustery day with 30 mph gusts and 8-foot swells,” Jamieson said during an interview on Carson Beach last Thursday.
“I drank about half of the Hudson River, but it was invigorating. I have a background in long-distance running, so I just loved it. As I was vomiting up half of the Hudson River, I decided I wanted to do more swimming events.”
After being introduced to the Triple Crown, she signed up for the Catalina swim on Sept. 20 – dedicating her effort to raising money for Alzheimer’s Disease research and, at first, training near her metro Washington, D.C., home. But D.C. waters are too warm, and Catalina Channel temperatures are around 62 degrees with swift currents turning the 20-mile swim into a 30-mile slog.
That’s where Dorchester Bay came in play with water temperatures around 65 degrees, and currents that mimic Catalina water conditions.
“I had to get in colder water,” said Jamieson, a consultant by day to governments for infrastructure finance, including Boston’s Climate Resiliency plan with the Army Corps of Engineers that affects the very coastline where she’s training.
“Boston is very well known for cold water swimming and has a great reputation for an outstanding and friendly open water swimming community. I’ve been swimming in Pleasure Bay (Castle Island) and Carson Beach, and it’s been great…My first couple of days were miserable and now I’m getting used to it.”
Jill Jamieson, 60, at Carson Beach last Thursday before starting her training in Dorchester Bay. An engineering consultant by day, she has taken to endurance swims and is training in Boston for the Sept. 20 Catalina (California) Channel swim as temperatures here mimic those in the channel. Seth Daniel photo
Looking out over the pristine waters of Carson Beach under sunny skies on Aug. 27, she said, “I have to say, this is perfect. It doesn’t get better than this. Training has been delightful.”
On Aug. 28, Jamieson swam for about five hours around Dorchester Bay and Castle Island. The next week she planned two-hour and three-hour swims as she tapers down her training– walking two blocks from her South Boston bed and breakfast to the water.
She said that long, open water swims are a new endeavor for her, but extreme sports are not. About four years ago, she completed the World Marathon Challenge, which includes running seven marathons in seven days on seven continents (yes, you read that right).
“I was never a runner; I played tennis and skied when I was younger,” she said, alluding to her upbringing in upstate New York and Kentucky. “I started running in 2004 as a mental health escape and to process all that was happening when my father was suffering from Alzheimer’s. Like Forest Gump, I started running and never stopped.”
A 5K led to a half-marathon and then multiple marathons and the World Marathon Challenge was a way to test her limits.
The whirlwind began in Antarctica, where after sleeping in tents for the night, she ran a marathon in negative 50 degree temperatures with snow and ice. From there they flew to Cape Town, South Africa, and in less than 24 hours were running in 89 degree temperatures on Cape Town Beach. With time to rest on a flight to Perth, Australia, she arose and ran through 107 degree temperatures there, then jumped on a plane to Dubai for another full marathon that included eluding rush hour traffic and the busy life of that desert city.
The European leg included a marathon in Madrid, and after a flight across the Atlantic Ocean, yet another run in Fortaleza, Brazil where humidity was at about 100 percent and conditions were terrible.
“That’s where people started to get angry and we were running through traffic and breaking down physically,” she noted.
But after making it through that and another plane tripe, the final leg was on Miami Beach through the late night hours, finishing at 4 a.m.
“I got to mile 13 or 14 there and that’s when I first actually believed I was going to finish and complete this; right there, I just burst into tears,” she said.
Injuries in the following years pushed her to swimming, and now she hopes she can complete another feat of marvelous proportions with the Triple Crown swim. If she is able to complete Catalina, Jamieson said she would attempt the English Channel swim next year.
“To train for that, I’ll probably come back here again to get used to the water because it’s typically 55 to 60 degrees in the water there,” she said.
For Jamieson, the sum total of all of these extremes is about finding her limits, an exercise she encourages everyone to pursue.
“At 59, I took up endurance swimming and so you’re never too old to try something new,” she said. “I always say if you don’t stretch yourself, you don’t know how far you can stretch.”
Copyright © 2026 Boston Neighborhood News, Inc. This content may not be re-published or re-used without written permission.
