A Burnaby mom hopes swimming nearly 10 kilometres from West Vancouver to Kitsilano will bring awareness and funds to her fledgling foundation.
Gerda Wever is the founder of the PARCY Foundation, a group created to raise awareness about concurrent disorders after her own son’s struggles with mental health issues and drug abuse. (Check out the www.burnabynow.com for a feature story on Wever and her foundation.)
On Saturday, Wever will join a handful of open-water swimmers in this year’s Bay Challenge from Sandy Cove in West Vancouver to Kitsilano. The race is a first for Wever. The seasoned distance runner was originally planning to run in a 60-kilometre race in Revelstoke but a broken fibula through a wrench into that plan.
Swimming and yoga were the only two activities she was allowed to do after breaking her leg, so she figured she’d try her hand at open water swimming.
“I’ve been swimming like a woman possessed,” she told the NOW after returning from another practice swim.
Wever has been training in lakes, swimming pools and the ocean to prepare herself for the big swim. Her biggest challenge will be reaching the safety cut-offs point within the timeframe laid out by race organizers. The first cut-off is at about the halfway mark, and she has two hours to make it there.
“I’m made for endurance, not for speed,” she laughed.
Despite the time-limit looming over her head, Wever said she’s excited for the opportunity to draw attention to her foundation and possibly raise some money in the process.
“I’m hoping to draw a little more attention to the foundation because we’re fairly new, we’re only about a year old,” she said.
Anyone can donate to the foundation through a link on The Write Room website, the small, local editing and publishing company run by Wever. To donate, go to thewriteroom.net/parcy-foundation/upcoming-events/ and click on the ‘Donate’ button at the bottom of the page.
Saturday’s race gets underway at 7 a.m. Swimmers have about four-and-a-half hours to finish the race. For more on the Bay Challenge, organized by the Vancouver Open Water Swim Association, visit vowsa.bc.ca/races/bay-challenge.
