FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

HISTORY MADE!

TORONTO – August 1, 2009 – On August 1st, 2009 Jade Scognamillo became the youngest person to swim across Lake Ontario!

A last-minute thunderstorm warning caught us all by surprise on Friday, July 31st! The boats were sitting just out from Queen's Royal Park in Niagara-on-the-Lake and the supporters, media, and Kinetico were all ready to give Jade a huge send-off.

Lanolin, vaseline and zinc in hand, Jade and her mom eagerly awaited the crew to determine whether the storm cell would pass through or stop the swim altogether. The rain hammered down for the next hour and we "bedded in" to wait out the storm.

Finally we had the "all-clear" and Jade entered the water at 9:33pm - in the dark. Not an ideal start, but at least we now had a clear weather window ahead.

Jade battled through the night with wind and waves head on, and sickness hitting hard about 3 hours in - she was not sure whether she would be able to get through the night. She turned on to her back for a while to watch the shooting stars, and finally the dawn broke and she had never been so happy to see the sun in her life! The first pacer went in the water and Jade perked up for a good, calm day of swimming.

Around 8km from the finish at Marilyn Bell Park, with Toronto feeling close enough to touch, Jade hit another wall. She was in pain and exhausted, but still her humour was evident at every feeding break and her determination not to quit carried her forward, following the "SickKids" logos painted on her finger nails! Mom joined the flotilla at this point and gave her some words of encouragement as Jade started her sprint to the finish.

She fought through the final kilometre in swells that grew to around 5-6ft, but still she got through and arrived at the finish at Marilyn Bell Park to the cheers of family, friends, team members, and Caribana Festival revellers!

Jade's goal was to break 20 hours and, even though all the waves and winds were against her for much of the time, she managed to finish in 19 hours 59 minutes and 49 seconds! Jade was delighted to finish and relieved the journey was over - she had no hypothermia (amazing since the water temperature was mainly around 61-64F) and her vital signs were declared perfect by paramedics!

She slept for 18 hours afterwards and, although has aching shoulders, is now fully recovered and looking forward to enjoying the rest of her summer with family and friends!

What a wonderful team effort to carry Jade through this journey and help raise over $50,000 for SickKids Foundation.

Without Kinetico, crew, and other team members this epic journey would not have been possible and certainly not successful! Jade and her family would like to thank them all from the bottom of their hearts!

-Jane Scognamillo (Jade's Mom)