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Deputy is up to challenge of escaping from Alcatraz

His months of training are tested by icy, choppy San Francisco Bay and the city's steep hills as Kurt Lynn raises money for charity.

By MOISES MENDOZA
Published July 24, 2006

Citrus County Sheriff's Deputy Kurt Lynn escaped one of the country's most notorious prisons last Sunday.

But he isn't a fugitive. Lynn, 35, was participating in the Alcatraz Challenge and Aquathlon and Swim, an 8.5-mile swimming and running event that stretched from Alcatraz Island, across the San Francisco Bay, through the Golden Gate Bridge and ended at the Golden Gate National Recreation Area's Presidio Park.

From the mid 1930s until its closing in 1963, Alcatraz, a former military prison, was America's premier maximum-security prison, earning the nickname the Rock.

Participants swam 1.5 miles across the bay, then ran up and down the area's hills for 7 miles before getting to the park.

Lynn had been training for months by swimming across local lakes and running for miles every day. To get used to the San Francisco Bay's frigid temperatures, Lynn sometimes even soaked himself in a bathtub full of ice.

But race day was far from easy. Lynn dove into the choppy, 50-degree water with only a swimming suit on - he didn't wear a wetsuit like many competitors because he wanted to avoid constricting his movement. He also got scratched by some of the 400 people clawing through the water. At one point, Lynn says, he also swam into the side of a kayak.

But after pulling himself from the water, the hilly terrain was Lynn's toughest challenge. Rigorous training couldn't prepare him for trudging up the San Francisco area's hills. Florida has nothing like them, he said.

Lynn also had to contend with diabetes, which he has suffered from for 22 years. He tested his blood sugar periodically and ate a special gel to keep his blood sugar up.

He ended up finishing 17th in his age group with an official time of about two hours.

But Lynn's trip to San Francisco wasn't just about challenging his body. By soliciting donations and selling 350 T-shirts that say "I helped Deputy Lynn Escape From Alcatraz," Lynn helped a couple good causes.

Lynn was able to raise about $6,000, $4,200 of which will be split between the American Diabetes Association and the American Heart Association's efforts to put automatic external defibrillators in patrol cruisers.

The excess money will go toward covering the cost of the shirts.

Lynn said he spent more than $2,000 of his money to fly to the West Coast with his wife.

He wanted all the fundraising dollars to go to charity.

Now that he has conquered Alcatraz, Lynn says he has other physical challenges in mind.

He's going to run some marathons and hopefully some day swim across the English Channel.

Moises Mendoza can be reached at mmendoza@sptimes.com or 860-7337.

[Last modified July 23, 2006, 22:47:12]