At sunrise on Sept. 24, three American men and three Mexican women began their attempt to break a record set nearly two years ago. The Mexican American Unity Swim (MAUS) 2010 is a relay race that starts at the Lone Rock portion of Lake Powell and ends 108 nautical miles later. If these six swimmers are successful, they’ll break the lake world relay record by about 30 nautical miles. But as the event’s title implies, this swim is about more than just breaking records.
Their pursuit began last year, courtesy of the Night Train Swimmers. The newly IRS-designated nonprofit was formed in 2008, made up of open-water swimmers based in the Bay Area who raise money for other nonprofits. Vito Bialla, the MAUS team captain and president of the Night Train Swimmers, along with five other swimmers, went down to the Sea of Cortez (between the Baja California peninsula and Mexico) to try and set the relay record. Unfortunately, after about 40 hours of swimming, a storm hit, and as Bialla told Tonic, “The swim was abandoned because one of us decided it was too dangerous. I was in the water at the time and I could see the boat, but the boat couldn’t see me.”
Bialla and the others decided to regroup and try it again, and that’s when he decided that some local knowledge might be helpful. He managed to find a few talented Mexican female swimmers who were interested in participating, and this past May, they tried again. This time, not one, but two of the Mexican swimmers were badly stung by jellyfish, forcing the team to stop after swimming 63.8 nautical miles, leaving them just over 10 miles short of the record.
Following those two frustrating attempts, Bialla and his two American teammates, Phil Cutti and Matthew Davie, got together to grab a few beers and talk, then decided, as Bialla said, “Let’s go kick some butt, put this thing to bed once and for all.” So they did some research, trying to figure out where the best body of water would be for their swim, and that’s when Lake Powell, on the Arizona/Utah border, entered the picture. And as Bialla added, “The world record … was set in the lake in New Zealand (Lake Taupo), so, you know, you swim with trout, which sounds more pleasant than getting stung in the face by jellyfish.”
But back to the lake’s location. As many of you may remember, the controversial Senate Bill 1070, otherwise known as the Arizona Immigration Law, was signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer in April of this year, just a month before the swimmers’ failed second attempt. And with three US swimmers (Bialla, Cutti and Davis) and three Mexican swimmers (Edna Llorens, Nora Toledano and Patty Kohlman) on the team, along with the swim location on, coincidentally enough, an Arizona border, it became obvious that they could do something more than just try and break a record.
And that’s just what Bialla decided to do. “I kind of came up with the idea to call it the Mexican American Unity Swim and [thought] why don’t we raise money for their charity and our charity.” The Mexican charity is Por Ellas, a group involved with a “crusade for education and prevention of cancer,” and the American charity is the Wounded Warrior Project, a nonprofit aimed at assisting injured servicemen and women.
Of course, as Cutti told Tonic, “It just happens that all of this is happening at this time in history, and we have three Mexicans on the team, trying to break the record, and we’re not in control of all that environment. We can only control showing up, having a goal, coming together as a team and accomplishing that goal. Yeah, it puts everything in a positive light when we have two different countries coming together for that goal, and it just serves as a good example of what you can achieve when you have a goal, come together and move forward in a positive way.”
What the Night Train Swimmers have achieved so far is raising nearly $250,000 since the organization’s inception, while providing its members added benefits as well. As Bialla noted, it “allows us to stay fit, train, do good things and try to make the world a little better.” All excellent pursuits if you ask us.
To donate to the organization or find out more about it, go to the website. And for those who want to track the swimmers’ progress, go to the Live GPS section of the MAUS website. We at Tonic salute the team and hope that the third time is truly the charm.
Photo 1 by Jim Hughes Photography, www.jimhughesphoto.com. Photo 2 by Vito Bialla/Night Train Swimmers.