From now until Dec. 31, CTV Kitchener is counting down the top 10 local stories of 2012. Catch the countdown each night on CTV News at Six.
The story of Annaleise Carr boils down to four numbers: 14, 27, 52 and 240,000.
The Norfolk County teenager became the youngest person to cross Lake Ontario this summer. At the age of 14, she swam 52 kilometres in 27 hours.
It was a grueling swim, but she didn’t do it just for herself or for the record. She also did it to send kids with cancer to Camp Trillium camps near Hamilton. At last count, Carr had raised more than $240,000 for the organization.
“She is now sending 115 kids to camp, and probably more because the donations keep coming in,” Fiona Fisher, Camp Trillium’s fundraising director, said in August, when the total was $115,000.
Carr’s initial goal? Thirty thousand.
She didn’t accomplish the feat on her own, either There were a team of more than 20 people working with her to make the crossing happen.
“When I got there, I saw everyone waiting for me and giving me huge. They all knew I could do it and it felt really good,” Carr said immediately after her swim.
The 27-hour swim wasn’t without its difficulty, though. Once darkness set in, Carr began questioning whether she wanted to keep going.
“During the night I had thoughts of getting out,” she said.
“I never said anything, but I thought about it. They just kept pushing me along and just kept saying ‘Remember what you’re doing it for.’”
Carr’s year was capped off with a nomination for the World Open Water Swimming Association woman of the year award. Out of 15 nominees for the award, which is determined through online voting, she’s the only Canadian.
