A memorable day at the bay

Local swimmer Hahn competes in 25th Annual Sharkfest Swim

Russell Hodges
Posted 6/20/17

Mike Hahn’s journey to Alcatraz Island began when a group of friends convinced him to sign up for the 25th Annual Sharkfest Swim, a 1.5-mile race across the San Francisco Bay that draws up to 800 swimmers from across the nation each year.

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A memorable day at the bay

Local swimmer Hahn competes in 25th Annual Sharkfest Swim

Posted

ROCHELLE — Mike Hahn’s journey to Alcatraz Island began when a group of friends convinced him to sign up for the 25th Annual Sharkfest Swim, a 1.5-mile race across the San Francisco Bay that draws up to 800 swimmers from across the nation each year.

The 47-year-old started swimming in high school, and today he swims on a regular basis through the Masters Swimming program at the I.D. Pennock Family YMCA in Rockford. Nine local swimmers including Hahn traveled to California roughly two weeks ago to participate in the yearly event.

“I love swimming,” Hahn said. “It’s a great exercise and it’s something I can do for the rest of my life… We go to the bar sometimes after swimming, and a couple of swimmers went to the bar and they said, ‘Hey, there’s a swim at Alcatraz.’ So we signed up back in November and it sounded like a fun trip. We rented an Airbnb and we went out there.”

665 swimmers reached the finish line this year including Hahn, who placed fifth out of 43 competitors in the 45-49 Male division and 58th overall with a time of 35:04.2. Swimmers were given 75 minutes to complete the 1.5-mile race, and those who were unable to finish were removed from the water.

“I was just making sure I could make it,” Hahn said. “I was just happy to get out of the water and to have the adrenaline rush of finishing the race. The worst part was having 800 people starting on top of each other because you had to either get out front or get away from people. Otherwise, it would get really crowded.”

The Sharkfest Swim wasn’t the first major event Hahn took the field for. Having previously logged a 5-mile swim and other local meets prior to arriving at Alcatraz Island, Hahn had no trouble speeding his way through the San Francisco Bay once he found his stride, and he said he may swim the bay again in the future.

“Sharkfest is a series of events,” Hahn said. “They have events in Tahoe, New York and other cities around America… I might do it again. I don’t really like to compete that much. I just wanted do it for the sake of saying I did it, and I like the exercise.”

Hahn is back in Rochelle, and he continues to swim locally with his friends at the YMCA in Rockford. His experience on San Francisco Bay will remain with him, regardless if he returns to Alcatraz Island or not, and he said he encourages anybody interested in making the trip to experience the bay themselves.

“It’s a great experience,” Hahn said. “With the people from Rockford going there with me, we had good camaraderie and it was just nice to get away and do something different.”