Young APA Swimmer Conquers the English Channel
Kianna Lee overcame seasickness, seaweed attacks and fear to win a world record and a new perspective.
Kianna Lee never used to consider herself to be very tough. The 12-year-old is terrified of the dark. She refuses to watch scary movies and fears getting shots at the doctor's office. But in the water, Kianna is a fierce competitor with a world record title.
In August, Kianna, along with her Colorado Open Water Swimmers (COWS) teammates became the youngest relay team in history to complete the 23.5-mile swim across the English Channel.
On a gloomy Aug. 9 morning, Kianna slipped into the bone chilling 64-degree water for her journey from Dover, England to Cap Griz Nez, France - without a wetsuit. In order for the record to stick, wetsuits are prohibited, so Kianna swam in a simple bathing suit and cap in two one-hour shifts with a five-hour wait in between.
The COWS completed the swim in nine hours and 58 minutes - much faster than their original goal of 15-18 hours.
"When you jump in the water, it's a shocking feeling ... your body kind of freezes up," Kianna said from the warmth of her home in Aurora, Colo. weeks after their record-breaking relay.
In the water, Kianna battled crashing waves, seaweed attacks and the constant threat of jellyfish. While waiting for her turn to swim, she tried to beat back waves of nausea. Yes, there were some critical moments when Kianna briefly toyed with the idea of giving up, but she had something to prove to herself.
When the team reached the finish, the tears began to flow.
"I started crying on the boat," said Kianna.
Swimming with Her Eyes Closed
Before Kianna started training for the English Channel, most of her swimming was relegated to pools. But swimming, it seemed, was in her blood. Her grandmother, Glenna Lee, taught water aerobics for 16 years and young Kianna was a fixture at the classes.
"That's how I like to think she became such a strong swimmer," said Glenna, about her granddaughter who started competitive swimming in the summer of 2004.
Last August, Kianna and her parents, Roger and Karen, attended a neighborhood meeting about putting together a team of 12-year-olds to conquer the English Channel and break the world record. Voni Oerman, a world-class swimmer who swam the English Channel herself in 2002, would coach the team. Kianna decided right then she was going to do it, and Roger was right behind her.
"I guess I was being the overzealous dad or something," said Roger. "But I've always been confident in [Kianna's] physical abilities."
Other family members had misgivings.
"When I was first approached about this idea, I thought, 'You've got to be kidding me,'" said Karen.
Like any mom, Karen worried about every possible risk. In her mind, she saw symptoms of hypothermia and dangerous predators lurking below the surface of the water, so she tried everything to get Kianna to change her mind. She bought Kianna a book about the swimmers who failed to navigate the English Channel's choppy waters. She hoped Kianna would lose interest when one of her friends dropped out. She even asked Kianna's pediatrician to give her any type of medical excuse to keep her daughter out of the race.
Nothing worked. When it all came down to it, Kianna needed to do it.
"She's a wimp in so many ways," said Karen with a laugh. "But she is strong in so many other ways."
To prepare for the journey, Kianna trained for two hours a day at least four times a week. They started training in wetsuits, but even that had to go. In April at the first open water practice at Pelican Lakes, Kianna noticed her teammates were doing really well and became nervous. At first, Kianna was swimming with her eyes squeezed shut in fear of what she might see. At night, she would lie in bed and wonder would what happen to her in the dark open water.
But soon, her eyes flew open.
"I think the mental part was much more difficult," she said.
Kianna had fear to overcome, said Oerman. "It was a huge developmental year for all the relay members. For Kianna it was pure desire that motivated her."
The training hit a snag in the early morning hours of April 22 when the phone rang at Kianna's house and delivered the tragic news that Kevin Nash, the father of teammate Sara Nash, had died during surgery.
"Kevin was inspirational in the beginning and I think [his death] drove them a little bit more," said Roger.
As a warm-up to the English Channel, Kianna and her teammates swam around Alcatraz Island without wetsuits in June. The water was about 55 degrees, and Glenna stuck her big toe briefly in the water to test the conditions.
"Oh my, I got a foot cramp!" Glenna exclaimed.
From England to France
On Aug. 9 in England, Kianna was sick to her stomach even before she dived into the water for the first leg of her swim. Kianna and the COWS were on one boat with Roger while the rest of her family was on another boat cheering her on.
In the water, the crashing waves made her more seasick. Then the seaweed came.
"I was not mentally prepared for that. I would hit this pack of seaweed and start freaking out and crying. Then hit another one," said Kianna.
In the water, each young swimmer would get tossed around in four-to-six feet waves. But they fought on. While waiting five hours for the second leg of her swim, Kianna grew sicker.
"I threw up four times," she said.
But when it came to her turn again, Kianna with the help of her teammates, slipped back into the water. Every time she struggled, her teammates would scream, "We're almost there!"
"I don't think any of us knew about her determination," said Glenna, who later watched her granddaughter's relay on video and cried while she watched an ashen-faced Kianna get helped into her bathing suit and gingerly lowered in the water. "What gives you that type of determination? She's my little hero."
Since returning from England, the COWS have enjoyed their new celebrity status. They've appeared on almost every local news channel and rubbed elbows with local politicians. But even today, it's difficult for the Lees to comprehend that they have a world record title in the family. Especially for Kianna, who has returned to her relatively normal teenage schedule.
She wants to continue open water swimming - maybe give Alcatraz another whirl.
"I have a new perspective of myself," she said.
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