Woman Sets Catalina Swim Marks
A Colorado woman broke both the men’s and women’s records Monday for swimming across the channel between Santa Catalina Island and the mainland.
Karen Burton, 32, of Monument, Colo., swam the 22-mile span in 7 hours 43 minutes 6 seconds.
“I’m tired,” Burton said. “But I was really happy with it. I was especially happy because it was a really good day. The water was as flat as a pancake.”
Her time beat the women’s record of 8:33 set by Penny Lee Dean of Upland in 1976, said John York of the Catalina Channel Swimming Federation, which monitors such swims. The men’s record of 8:14.46 was set on Sept. 24, 1993, by Chad Hundeby of Irvine.
Escorted by a charter boat and a kayak, Burton left Doctor’s Cove on the west end of the island about 12:05 a.m. and finished her swim on the rocky shores of Rancho Palos Verdes.
Burton swam the English Channel last year.
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