Channel swimmer takes on Tampa Bay

ST. PETERSBURG -- She has swum across the English Channel 40 times, more than anyone in history.

On Saturday, even though she's known as the "Queen of the Channel," Alison Streeter was just another one of the 27 swimmers who participated in the Sixth Annual Tampa Bay Marathon Swim. The 24-mile race began at the beach behind the Holiday Inn Sunspree Resort near the Sunshine Skyway bridge and ended at the Ben T. Davis Beach on the Courtney Campbell Causeway. And the distance is approximately 2 miles longer than the English Channel.

No matter. For Streeter, the open water swim and the warm water of Tampa Bay was a preseason warm-up for a possible 41st attempt at the Channel. It was also a chance to catch up with friends.

"It's just nice when you see each other at other events rather than the English Channel," said Streeter, 38. "It's a party swim."

Swimmers avoided Tampa Bay for many years. Pollution from dredging operations severely degraded what was once the state's most productive fishery.

Today, the bay is in excellent condition, said Tom Cardinale, laboratory manager for the Environmental Protection Commission of Hillsborough County.

In 1997, long-distance swimmer Ron Collins and a group of his friends swam from Gandy Beach in St. Petersburg to Picnic Island in Tampa. The next spring, Collins organized a race to draw attention to the bay's improving water quality. More than 100 swimmers participated that year. Since then, the race has been held every year on Earth Day.

"We're doing this to promote adult master swimming and the cleanliness of the bay," Collins said. The race attracts swimmers from India, the United Kingdom and across the United States.

Streeter swam in the relay division with the Jersey Long Distance Swim Club of the United Kingdom. The currency trader from Surrey, just south of London, began swimming at age 6. The oldest of three siblings, Streeter suffered from severe asthma as a child. The doctor suggested regular exercise, and her parents enrolled her in a local swimming club. She did her first open water swim at 14 when she completed a five mile swim around the Isle of Wight. She remembered seeing a program on television about the Channel swim and thought one day she'd do it. She did -- at 18.

In 1992, Streeter crossed the Channel seven times including one round trip from England to France and back.

The Channel is known as the Mount Everest of open-water swimming because of its fierce tides and tremendous amount of daily traffic of tankers, ferries and Hovercrafts.

And what about the sharks?

"We don't say the 's' word in open water swimming," Collins said.

"We know they're there but we don't really talk about it."

Streeter has failed to cross the Channel only once, during her 31st attempt.

"It was good for me in a way," Streeter said. "It was the Channel's way of asking for respect."

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