{"id":57038,"date":"2025-08-22T07:45:35","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T11:45:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/?p=57038"},"modified":"2025-08-22T08:21:00","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T12:21:00","slug":"deboer-cayuga-swim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/deboer-cayuga-swim\/","title":{"rendered":"Far Across Cayuga\u2019s Waters, Alum Reprises Record Swim"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Four decades after Claire de Boer \u201983, BS \u201985, swam the lake\u2019s length, she teamed up for a relay in another alum\u2019s memory<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Editor\u2019s note: This story includes content from <\/em>a feature<\/em><\/a> in the <\/em>Cornell Chronicle.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBear Hugs\u201d celebrates heartwarming stories of Cornellians on the Hill and around the world. Have an idea? Email us at cornellians@cornell.edu<\/a>!<\/em>
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By Beth Saulnier<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Claire de Boer \u201983, BS \u201985, switched from Arts & Sciences to Human Ecology as an undergrad, most of her credits transferred seamlessly. But there was one class\u2014statistics\u2014that she had to retake in summer 1984 to complete her degree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For de Boer, that requirement proved to have a silver lining\u2014one unrelated to academia. \u201cI had to be in Ithaca for an extra summer for that one course,\u201d she recalls. \u201cAnd that was fortuitous, because it gave me the time to train for and swim the lake.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That August, swim it she did: she traversed the 38-mile length of Cayuga Lake in 20 hours and 30 minutes\u2014a solo record that still stands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Claire
De Boer emerges from the lake after her 1984 swim.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Jump ahead more than four decades: to raise funds for a cause close to her heart, the lifelong swimming enthusiast has repeated the feat, albeit in relay form. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In mid-August 2025, de Boer and a friend\u2014both women in their 60s\u2014swam Cayuga\u2019s length in 19 hours and 32 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I look back on it, it feels like it was a dream,\u201d de Boer says, chatting with Cornellians<\/em> a few days afterward. \u201cIt\u2019s a bit of euphoria to think that we did that. It feels really nice, and a little sad that it\u2019s over.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When I look back on it, it feels like it was a dream. It\u2019s a bit of euphoria to think that we did that.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

For de Boer, swimming in the lake goes back to childhood: she grew up in Ithaca, daughter of longtime engineering professor Tobias de Boer<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(A professor emeritus, he passed away in 2016 at age 85; Claire\u2019s siblings Maarten \u201981 and Yvette \u201986, BS \u201987, are also alums.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Claire
Alexandra Bayer \/ Cornell University<\/figcaption>
A summer 2025 training swim.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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De Boer swam competitively at Ithaca High School, but joined the Big Red squad for just a single semester before switching her focus from the pool to open water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

De Boer grew up in Ithaca, daughter of longtime engineering professor Tobias de Boer.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Her summer 1984 feat\u2014swimming Cayuga, the longest of the Finger Lakes, from north to south\u2014made headlines, including a feature in the Ithaca Journal<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After graduation, de Boer went on to a career as an arts and health administrator, raising a family and settling in picturesque Mount Gretna, PA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Claire
With family at her Commencement.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And she has stayed active in her beloved sport, not only belonging to a dedicated swimming group but occasionally competing in meets and other events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2025 swim was a collaboration with friend and distance swimmer Bridgette Hobart\u2014who had herself soloed the lake\u2019s length in 2015, with a time just three minutes over de Boer\u2019s record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(In fact, only four people\u2014de Boer, Hobart, and two others\u2014have ever officially completed end-to-end solo swims of Cayuga.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Claire
The swimmers were safeguarded by kayakers in support boats.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cI\u2019m incredibly grateful that my body can do this,\u201d says de Boer, who\u2019s a mother of two and grandmother of four. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know it\u2019s a gift, and I could just as easily be somebody who has had physical limitations, injuries, or illnesses and not be able to do it. So I felt almost a responsibility: \u2018You can do this. Do it now.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I\u2019m incredibly grateful that my body can do this. I know it\u2019s a gift.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In addition to being a feat of athleticism and endurance, the women\u2019s relay was aimed to spur donations to the Sophie Fund<\/a>, a local nonprofit that supports mental health initiatives for young people in Ithaca and Tompkins County.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The organization was founded in memory of Sophie Hack MacLeod \u201914, an AAP student who took her own life in 2016 while on medical leave from Cornell. The cause is personal for de Boer and Hobart, who have each lost nephews to suicide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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