GREAT SALT LAKE— Swimming through the waves, the wind and sometimes even the muck of a lake doesn't feel like work to Gordon Gridley.
It feels like freedom.
"I am so relaxed, it's like meditation," said Gridley, a 39-year-old father of seven children who spent nearly 11 hours swimming across the Great Salt Lake last Tuesday to prove he is capable of making a childhood dream come true. "I've never gotten to the point where I ran out of breath or I've gotten too tired. For me it's less about speed. I don't really care how long it will take me to cross the English Channel, just as long as I can do it."
The English Channel is the dream a lot of young swimmers nurture because it is seen as one of the sports iconic feats. It was an English Steamship Captain named Matthew Webb, who first swam from Dover (England) to Calais (France), and he did it in less than 22 hours. That was August 25, 1875. About 1,500 people have done it since and many more than that have tried and failed.
Gridley was just a junior in high school when he began to fantasize about swimming the channel. And then he graduated, went on a mission, got married and had seven beautiful children. Somewhere in all of that living, he stopped swimming and sort of forgot about that boyhood yearning.
One day he started worrying about the weight he'd gained in his sedentary life. His wife, and avid runner, and several friends encouraged him to participate in triathlons. He enjoyed them, but dreaded the runs.
"Swimming is just much less intense," he said, admitting it has taken practice to refine the technique that allows him to swim miles and miles in open water. "I realized I excelled at swimming, and I just needed to stick with that."
So he swam in lakes and the few competitions that are offered in and around Utah. And then he started to rekindle that desire to do what Captain Webb did 136 years ago.
He started a blog about his underwater adventures www.gordsswimlog.blogspot.com, as did one of his friends. It was there that he read about a book that mentioned local swim legend named Orson Spencer and the Great Salt Lake Marathon Swim.
"In 1927 there was this race from Antelope Island to the old Saltair (which burned down)," he said. "It ran from 1926-1941 and in that time moved from Saltair to finishing at Black Rock. Spencer won this race six times."
Gridley was so inspired by what Spencer did back then that he decided he wanted to revive the Great Salt Lake Marathon Swim, which was abandoned during World War II.
"I talked to a friend about doing this last September," he said, of the event which is scheduled for Saturday, June 11, at 10 a.m. "We'd like to open it up and have it be a national event, like it used to be."
They capped the 8-mile race, which starts at Antelope Island and ends at Black Rock, at 12 swimmers, and they filled those spots in less than six weeks. Two of those participating in Saturday's event have done what Gridley will do next August — swim the English Channel. Five of the swimmers are locals.
Part of the reason Gridley wants to revive the race is to let the world know what a wonderful open water swim venue the Great Salt Lake is, brine shrimp and all.
"It is a fantastic body of water to swim in, and unfortunately it is misunderstood and many people have unfounded perceptions of the lake," he said.
To put an exclamation mark on his sentiment, he spent nearly 11 hours last Tuesday swimming 21.7 miles in water that ranged from 51-degrees to 64-degrees. In order to qualify to swim the English Channel, one must swim for six hours in water colder than 60-degrees.
With his wife and two sons acting as his support crew, Gridley swam from Black Rock, where Saturday's event will finish, to White Rock, on Antelope Island. Swimming in the salty water required a "ton" of channel grease, which is 50 percent lanolin and 50 percent vaseline, to minimize chaffing. When his shoulder ached, his tongue swelled and his body shivered, he imagined Spencer swimming next to him.
"Part of my reason for doing this swim right before the event is to prove to the world (especially the locals) that the Great Salt Lake truly is great," he said. "If I can swim for 11 hours in the lake, moderate swimmers can brave the waters for 30-40 minutes and swim 1 mile."
About 25 swimmers will compete in Saturday's one-mile race. And while Gridley was disappointed there weren't more takers for his challenge, he's confident word will spread after Saturday's race.
In addition to the Great Salt Lake Marathon Swim, which could finish between 1:30 (if records are broken) and 3 p.m., there is a sailing race and plenty of other events happening for those who turn out to cheer on the swimmers. The one-mile race starts at noon and should finish 20 minutes later at Black Rock.
"People get caught up in how far I'm going, but it's really just so relaxing, it's no big deal for me. It allows me to focus on my breathing and just think," he said. "It's pretty good stress relief for me."
Email: adonaldson@desnews.com. Twitter: adonsports