Barbara Held

From Openwaterpedia

Barbara Held (born December 8) is a prolific member of the Half Century Club and holds the record as the oldest female to ever cross the Catalina Channel at the age of 56 years old in a remarkably fast time of 9 hours 36 minutes in 2010.

A member of the La Jolla Cove Swim Club and a lifetime member of the Catalina Channel Swimming Federation, the resident of Carmel Valley in California is a passionate and accomplished open water swimmer and retired firefighter and paramedic has completed the 28.5-mile Manhattan Island Marathon Swim (8:12:29), the Strait of Gibraltar (3:17:00 as the second fastest woman of all time and the fastest American woman) and swam a leg of a relay across the English Channel with the Foireann Snamh Garibaldi team of Sabrina Buselt, Joel Barnett,Catherine Sheridan, Kevin Williams, Fionnuala Walsh (13:52).

In addition to her record-setting Catalina Channel swim, she has also done warm-water swims in Maui, cold-water swims in South Africa (Cadiz Freedom Swim) and the 24-mile Tampa Bay Marathon Swim in Florida.

References

• Catalina Channel Swimming Federation
• Strait of Gibraltar Swimming Association
• Open Water Swimming