Theo Armour: Escape from Alcatraz: Photos, Results & Conclusions

Well, the final results are in. I really did “Escape from Alcatraz”. On the 15th of October I swam from “The Rock” to San Francisco in 57 minutes 16 seconds. I placed 97th out of 110 male swim-only participants. There were many hundreds of participants because the swim was part of a triathlon and, of course, there were female participants as well. Therefore in the total group of participants I certainly placed higher but the organizers do not provide the overall statistics. Nevertheless I am disappointed.

So the interesting thing is that my brain very quickly switched from “Can I do it?” to “Why didn’t I do it faster?” – from being afraid to being combative.

Attached are some photos:

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Kathy von Nagel took this picture of me, my daughter Cynthia and hundreds of rubbermen walking along Fisherman’s wharf to the ferry that took us to Alcatraz. I am one of the few dressed because I did the swim without a wet suit. The sight of so many people dressed in black rubber was an unusual sight and stopped the traffic.

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Pictures taken by Nick Reynolds. Nick did the swim and while we chatted afterwards I found out that he did the swim with a waterproof camera. These pictures are very real.

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Picture by Norman Dole (member of my reception crew) showing swimmers arriving in Aquatic Park.

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Picture by Norman of a very happy Theo being welcomed by his reception crew.

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Picture by Kathy taken on the Golden Gate Bridge during the swim showing Alcatraz on the left and the dark area in San Francisco on the right where I landed.

Conclusion

I now support the little conceit that I (a one-handed cripple after all) accomplished something that in theory would kill 99% of the population and has actually killed more than a few in the past. I have assuaged somewhat the memory of almost but not completely swimming the English Channel. And I have proved once and for all that I can be insanely happy.

And so I leave you with a final picture: