The Northeast Kingdom Open Water Swimming Association was formed in the coldest depths of January, 2010 when 34 open water swimmers responded to an e-mail, “You had a blast at Kingdom Swim, how’d ya like to swim Willoughby.”
That weekend was bitterly cold. 30 F below zero both days. Nothing to do, but internet mischief. Before we were done, we had formed NEKOWSA and word of this effort was spread far and wide by the Daily News of Open Water Swimming.
The Willoughby Swim turned out to be just the beginning. Since then, we’ve added In Search of Memphre, the 25 mile international swim and then, almost as an afterthought of Willoughby, Caspian. We now offer a swim week of 8 lakes in 9 days totaling 45 miles of low key swims in the legendary lakes of the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont and the Eastern Townships of Quebec.
The past two years we have added an offering of boat support for individual ultra marathon swims on Lake Memphremagog. Solo and relay swims the length of Lake Memphremagog as well as 15 to 18 mile swims between Newport and Georgeville, Skinner Island (Smuggler’s Cave), and Ile Ronde.
And, we have converted my log cabin on the lake to The Clubhous where swimmers and kayakers and other Kingdom Games participants and volunteers can gather and stay without charge when they visit The Kingdom. And so, we grow.
We stand by our mission to promote open water swimming in the Northeast Kingdom and to do so at prices that are reasonable and affordable.
If you want to support this effort, we invite you to join The Friends of NEKOWSA for $65 per year. Each friend will receive a yearly NEKOWSA Training Calendar and a bumper sticker so that they can proclaim their friendship wherever they go. As we always say, “With a little help from a lot of people, good shit can happen.”