All year, Veronica Hibben of Huntington Beach is an ocean swimmer, doing it five or six days a week, regardless of how cold the water gets. On Sunday, she was a pool swimmer, relishing the warm environs at the new San Clemente Aquatics Center while warming to a cause called “Swimming 4 a Cure.”
She joined ocean swimmers Paul Machin of Laguna Beach, Marc Horwitz of Fountain Valley and Jim Fitzpatrick of Laguna Niguel to form a team they dubbcd Three Dudes & a Chick. They won a relay race and participated with others who helped raise $16,500 to help a nonprofit called Swim Across America support cancer research.
“My mother died from lung cancer,” Hibben said. “My sister died from throat, tongue and larynx cancer. We wanted to support the cause. And this is a lot of fun.”
San Clemente pool swimmers led by Steve Hops and Barbara Helton organized the inaugural benefit swim meet, where winning wasn’t the motive – fun was, as evidenced by a dog-paddle race, an inner-tube water-polo game and other festivities.
“The little kids and right up to the dads and moms could participate, not like a real swim meet,” said Byron Reidenbaugh, water-polo coach for Alliance, a Capistrano Valley Aquatics Club team. He emceed Sunday’s event and swam. “It was more like a kind of fun get-together at the pool,” he said.
A diving exhibition by members of the 2011 Amateur Athletic Union national champion Crown Valley Divers entertained the audience and served as the inaugural diving event at San Clemente’s aquatics center.
“I think everybody knows somebody with cancer,” said Curt Wilson, Crown Valley Divers coach. “All the divers are happy to be part of this and raise money for the cause.”
Reidenbaugh, who along with coaching is part of the pool-swimming community, was gratified at Sunday’s turnout. “We needed to step up and make our contribution,” he said. “I lost my niece two months ago. That was devastating. At 34, she didn’t live a full life. She fought cancer for six years. The outcome was not what we wanted, but it’s time for us to put back into it.”
The organizers didn’t charge an entry fee but asked participants to try to raise at least $50 if younger than 18 and $100 if 18 or older. Elliott Sloan, 12, of Laguna Niguel was the top fundraiser, with $750.
“I have a family member who has cancer, so I really tried to go over the top with this,” Sloan said. “My aunt and my friend’s mom are fighting cancer. They’re doing great right now, actually.”
And what do they think of his fundraising? “They think it’s amazing,” Sloan said.
Kai Hanson, 12, of Dana Point raised $525 “with the help of Facebook,” he said. “A family friend and my great-grandma have cancer,” he said.
Hops, a survivor of bladder cancer, lost his father, his brother and his wife to cancer. He said he and others who swim at the aquatics center and have been affected by cancer decided it was time to do something. They plan to make Swimming 4 a Cure an annual event.
“What we’d really like to do is at least raise $25,000,” said Helton, a survivor of kidney cancer. “We had some people (Sunday) who really reinforced why we are doing this. They wanted to buy some T-shirts because they have been touched by cancer.”
Blake Chanowski, vice president of operations for Swim Across America, said the organization does more than 50 pool swims per year, plus about 15 open-water swims that are bigger in scope.
She said the San Clemente event did very well for a first-year pool swim. “I have never been to one this fun. There’s so much energy,” she said.
Contact the writer: fswegles@ocregister.com or 949-492-5127