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In this episode of Marathon Swim Stories, we spoke to Paula Yankauskas, an endurance swimmer, veterinarian, and new grandmother. After completing the Catalina Channel in 2018, Paula became the third oldest individual to complete a Triple Crown - though she doesn't focus on her age, she's happy to motivate people to swim into their senior years! We talk about how swimming keeps you fit, meeting kindred swim spirits all over the world, and when someone "thinks you can" swim across the English Channel - so you do.

In her own words: Paula Yankauskas grew up in central Connecticut and always loved the water – the summer she turned 11, the City of New Britain opened its outdoor municipal pools – four 25 meter pools, and one 50 meter pool – spread out over different city neighborhoods. In the East End of New Britain, the home pool for those residents was Chesley Pool, and it was there that Paula spent nearly all daylight summer hours for the next five years. When she turned 16, she was eligible to work for New Britain Parks & Recreation; at Chesley, there was only an opening for locker attendant. Paula worked it for a short time; when the lifeguard Captain of Stanley Pool (the 50 meter facility) asked if she’d consider joining their Lifeguard roster; all loyalty to the “neighborhood” vanished, and she took the job at the rival pool Stanley, taking on coaching the swim team as well as teaching swimming (WSI - babies to adults) in addition to Lifeguard duties.

Paula is now a Vermont Swimmer – she first came to Vermont for college in 1972; attending UVM for undergraduate work (she was on the swim team for 7 semesters) and put in 1 year toward a Masters’ degree in Physics before getting into veterinary school. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine in Philadelphia in 1981.  

Central to Paula’s focus are 3 things: LVVS, family, and swimming, and not necessarily in that order (the attention devoted to each varies on a daily basis). LVVS and family took over for the 20 years between education and the 2001 opening of The Swimming Hole in Stowe; but once she had a pool to stretch out in, she was set to return to swimming and has not looked back. To top it all off, the Green River Reservoir State Park is in Paula’s home town of Hyde Park, Vermont - it is a “quiet” body of water (no power boats), so ideally suited for open water swimming. 

She founded Lamoille Valley Veterinary Services (LVVS), in 1985 as a mixed animal practice and over the years it has evolved into a 5 doctor, full-service facility for small animals, mostly cats and dogs. Paula’s current focus is on behavioral and emotional health of dogs and cats. 

An endurance athlete, Paula has at times held titles for age – she was formerly the oldest person on record to have swum the length of Lake Memphremagog  - September 2014, 25 miles, at 60 years. And currently, for the third oldest (average age) for the Triple Crown of open water swimming, having completed the English Channel in 2016 at 62, the Manhattan Island Marathon in 2017 at 63, and the Catalina Channel in 2018 at 64. She does think the age thing gets a little “old” at times, but is happy to motivate people to swim into their senior years, or even get started then.

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Music credit:

Epic Inspiration  by Rafael Krux
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/5447-epic-inspiration-
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