Loved that murky water

Dozens of men in Speedos and women in one-piece bathing suits lined up yesterday morning on the dock for the race. The toned -- and the not-so-toned -- swimmers hopped in place to warm their muscles while peering into the greenish-brown waters.

But this was no ordinary swim, nor ordinary water. They were about to plunge into the Charles River -- Boston's historically dingy waterway that has not seen swimmers in more than half a century. The water temperature hovered in the mid-70s and it was, as always, murky, but that did not stop 69 people from braving that infamous dirty water.

To some, the morning jaunt was just another athletic feat. But for many Bostonians, the one-mile loop signified hope for a swimmable Charles -- once a forbidden and unthinkable summer activity.

Amy Walsh's father was born and raised in Cambridge and swam there in the 1950s. He loved it, and did not know any better, she said. "You just never know what it's going to be like -- the winds, the currents. Is everyone going to be on top of each other? " said Walsh, 31, of Belmont, before yesterday's swim. "I realize that they wouldn't allow this to happen if it weren't safe to swim."

Just last week, reports of algae growth threatened the event, which was canceled last year when the same toxic substance bloomed. But state health and environmental officials gave the thumbs-up a day before the gunshot. The fastest male swimmer, Sebastian Neumayer, clocked in at 20 minutes, 20 seconds; and the fastest female, Emily Sutliff, finished at 21 minutes, 46 seconds. The last swimmer touched the dock after 45 minutes,28 seconds.

"I came from Switzerland in '78 and swimming in the Charles has been my dream ever since," said Renata von Tscharner, 58, founder and president of the Charles River Conservancy, as she watched the swim from the dock. "Imagine if every urban American river became swimmable, what that would change."
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