In honour of her late father, Surrey乌鸦传媒檚 Jen Soti celebrated her 50th birthday with a sometimes frigid six-hour swim in Harrison Lake.
She swam 15 kilometres Thursday, Aug. 17, followed by a 35-kilometre run/walk on forest roads back to the bay where the swim started earlier that day, at around 5:20 a.m.
Soti乌鸦传媒檚 50K journey was done as a fundraiser for Ecojustice Canada in tribute to her father, Jim Keeling Jr., who drowned in Harrison Lake 27 years ago in a boating accident, at age 50, in May 1996.
For Soti, it was a 乌鸦传媒渕emorable乌鸦传媒� milestone birthday.
乌鸦传媒淚 had all these people out celebrating with me so it was certainly a meaningful day, for sure,乌鸦传媒� she said later.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW PHOTOS
Soti, a recreation professional, began her swim at Blind Bay, near where her father died, and made her way south to a beach/boat launch about a kilometre from Harrison Hot Springs Resort.
乌鸦传媒淭he lake was super kind to me at first, calm,乌鸦传媒� she reported. 乌鸦传媒淏ut once I passed Echo Island, that乌鸦传媒檚 where I was told it gets colder. There were sections that were absolutely freezing, so I was very surprised to feel how cold it truly is, but then it would warm up, which was quite odd. It wasn乌鸦传媒檛 cold the entire way, it was just little pockets of it.乌鸦传媒�
She knows how dangerous the lake can be.
乌鸦传媒淢y father drowned there,乌鸦传媒� she underlined. 乌鸦传媒淪o all of that went through my head as I was swimming and tried to stay calm in some confused water, too.
乌鸦传媒淥verall, it was good and I felt very happy with the swim, which was long 乌鸦传媒� around six hours, 27 minutes,乌鸦传媒� Soti added. 乌鸦传媒淭hat was the longest I乌鸦传媒檝e ever swam. I did some long swims at Sasamat Lake (in training), but not that length of time.乌鸦传媒�
Soti is a member of the Keeling family that helped build Cloverdale Raceway horse track (now Fraser Downs) in Surrey. Her grandfather, Jim Keeling Sr., was a co-founder of the track, which opened in 1976. In 1980 he gave the reins to his son, Soti乌鸦传媒檚 father.
Keeling Jr. was a lawyer by profession and served on the board of Sierra Legal Defence Fund, now known as Ecojustice Canada, the nation乌鸦传媒檚 largest environmental law charity.
乌鸦传媒� RELATED: .
Soti explains her money-raising motivation and offered updates in , where more than $6,700 has been collected, so far.
乌鸦传媒淭hat exceeded the goal, which was initially $2,500 and then I raised it to $3,000, then $6,000,乌鸦传媒� she explained.
乌鸦传媒淎s my husband said, the money raised was a bonus,乌鸦传媒� she added. 乌鸦传媒淵ou know, people from my walking group drove from Surrey to Harrison, made signs and brought birthday cake. That support stayed with me, so it was a meaningful event.
乌鸦传媒淚 hope to do it again next year,乌鸦传媒� Soti said. 乌鸦传媒淚 wouldn乌鸦传媒檛 do the fundraising but I would probably just make a donation on behalf of my dad.乌鸦传媒�
tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com
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