Swansenreport

“Swimmers gather at Bayfield’s Washington Ave Beach before Saturday’s 20th Point to La Pointe swim across Lake Superior to Madeline Island.”

BAYFIELD, Wis. — Two hundred and eighteen years is nothing next to the age of Lake Superior. Twenty years, though, is a fair run for a race that started with two dozen people willing to swim it.

Saturday morning, the Point to La Pointe Open Water Swim marked its 20th running, sending waves of swimmers off Washington Ave Beach at 7:20 a.m. for the 2.1-mile crossing to Madeline Island. By 10:05, the last of them were being pulled from the water, and by noon the Rec Center pavilion was handing out awards. Between those hours, Lake Superior did what it does — stayed cold, stayed clear, and let several hundred people find out exactly what they’re made of.

The race began in 2006 with 24 swimmers testing the same stretch of water that ice fishermen and snowmobilers cross every winter on the “ice road.” It now sells out most years near 600 entrants and stands as the largest single fundraiser for the Bayfield Area Recreation Center — money that goes toward youth swim and sailing lessons, senior fitness programs, and the kind of community infrastructure that doesn’t show up on a finish line but matters just as much.

Today’s results

In the competitive full-course field, Brian Kirkvold of Chanhassen, Minnesota, took the overall win in 47 minutes, 12 seconds — a pace of 22:28 per mile across open, unmarked water. Elliot Wilcox of Hastings, Minnesota, finished second in 47:52; a swimmer by that name won the race outright in 2023, so there may be a familiar face near the front of this year’s results too. Chris Bernard of Ramsey, Minnesota, rounded out the top three in 49:14.

On the non-competitive side — swimmers logging the crossing without chasing a clock, though plenty still race it in spirit — Pamela Toshner of Gordon, Wisconsin, led the way in 1:05:42. Taylor Matysik of Minneapolis followed at 1:06:21, and Allison Taylor of La Crosse came in third at 1:08:23.

Full results, including age-group breakdowns, are posted through Athlinks and Anderson Race Management, which directs results questions to info@andersonraces.com.

Twenty years of moods

Ask anyone who’s swum it more than once and you’ll hear about the year the lake went flat as glass, and the year it didn’t — two-foot crosswind chop that turned a straightforward crossing into a genuine test. The Rec Center notes as much on its own event materials: swimmers have seen the full range, calm to combative, and the race remains registered with and approved by the U.S. Coast Guard for exactly that reason. Nobody swims 2.1 miles of Lake Superior on a whim.

The event also survived its own disruption. COVID forced a route change in 2021, and organizers didn’t get the finish line back onto Madeline Island until 2022. That the race is standing at 20 years anyway, with the original finish restored, says something about how much this community wanted it back.

Swim Director Ursula Garrison has overseen the event’s growth in recent years, guiding it from a local curiosity into a race that now draws entrants from well outside Wisconsin — today’s leaderboard alone pulled swimmers from Minnesota’s Twin Cities suburbs as far as Chanhassen and Hastings, alongside the expected contingent from Gordon, La Crosse, and other corners of the state.

Registration for next year typically opens in mid-September, for anyone already thinking about year 21.

Sources:
Point to La Pointe Open Water Swim, Bayfield Rec Center — bayfieldrec.org/point-to-la-pointe.html
2026 Race Results, Athlinks/Anderson Race Management — athlinks.com/event/44882/results/Event/1141599/Results
Madeline Island Chamber of Commerce — madelineisland.com
Travel Wisconsin event listing — travelwisconsin.com/events/point-to-la-pointe-open-water-swim