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By Anna Skinner
Associate News Editor
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Ultramarathoner Sarah Thomas will attempt to swim across Lake Mead on October 6.
Thomas, a cancer survivor and Colorado resident, is conducting the swim, in which she would become the first person to swim across Lake Mead, as a fundraising initiative for Swim Across America, an organization that raises money for cancer research through swim events. Thomas said a 2021 visit to the Hoover Dam inspired her trek, considering the extreme drought that the lake suffered from at the time.
The lake, which is in Arizona and Nevada, suffered from years of drought that greatly depleted the reservoir's water levels. It reached drastically low levels last summer but has since started to recover after a year of above-average precipitation and snowpack that melted throughout the summer. The lake's water levels are at 1,066 feet and expected to decline slightly before the winter.
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Thomas told Newsweek that she expects her swim to last 30 hours, and she won't be taking any breaks. When she does need to refuel or hydrate, her team will toss her the item from a nearby boat, and she will consume it while treading water.
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"I am most worried about the heat," Thomas, who was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer in 2017 at age 35, told Newsweek. "I'm a cold-water swimmer at heart, and the water temps at Lake Mead will be higher than what I prefer, so I may struggle if it's hot outside [the forecast high is 85] and the water temps are over 75 degrees."
This will be Thomas' sixth time doing a swim over 40 miles, so she's familiar with the training load. She swims before and after work and completes long swims on the weekends. She said she conducts these swims not to make new records but to enjoy the beauty around the world.
No swimmer has attempted the 50-mile trek that Thomas faces. She will start her swim on October 6 at the South Cove, where the Colorado River enters the reservoir. The river also has been severely impacted by the regional drought. Thomas will then swim to Hoover Dam, where Lake Mead ends.
If Thomas succeeds, it will be another record to add to her list, which includes being the first person to complete a four-way crossing of the English Channel in 54 hours and 10 minutes in 2019, a two-way crossing of the North Channel in 21 hours and 46 minutes, and a two-way swim lengthwise of Lake Tahoe.
Her fundraising page is available on the Swim Across America website.
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