By Lauren Tomory

“I have seen a thing or two in my day but what Shoup did was out of control, over the top, 100% [incredible].”

These are the choice words of Sport Factory Elite Team Member Jason McCambridge to describe Chris Shoup’s record-breaking 21 mile swim across the length of Lake Lanier on July 29, 2010.
At roughly 7:30 PM, Chris began his attempt to swim the length of Lake Lanier from the Toto Boat Launch to the Buford Dam, a total of 21 grueling miles. The support crew consisted of friend and fellow Dekalb County school teacher Jason McCambridge, and a kayak filled with plenty of Cytomax and drinking water.

But that wasn’t the extent of it. According to Jason McCambridge, “Part of the deal was that I was going to get in an hour swim of my own. I was thinking I would go ahead and swim ahead then when Shoup caught up, I would kayak ahead and repeat that a few times.”

Shoup had another idea.

He said, “No, we’ll just start together. I will pull the kayak while you swim for your hour; we should be swimming at about the same speed.”

Picture a 21 mile swim that has never been attempted, commencing with the swimmer herding a 100 pound kayak harnessed to his waist. That was nothing to Chris though. In his normal, modest fashion, Chris said, “I’m so thankful to Jason that he was able to support me in this endeavor. School was about to start on Monday, and it was Thursday, and I wanted to make sure I completed my goal before the beginning of the school year. (Chris is an art teacher for the Dekalb County School System.) I called Jason on Thursday to see if he was up to the task. He didn’t answer, and if he hadn’t called me back, I was going up there by myself to tow my own kayak the entire 21 mile length of the lake.”

I asked Chris the quintessential question: “What makes you want to do something as crazy as swimming 21 miles straight?”

He shot back simply, “I love swimming.”

Chris’ regular week is not for the light-hearted. He generally swims in the pool three times a week and swims open water another three days. When he does his open water swims, they usually last up to 6 hours.

“My only wish is that they could put a billboard or any kind of advertisement of my endeavor up at Lake Lanier. I just want the fishermen that  see me getting into the water at ungodly hours to know that I actually completed something cool – that I’m not entirely crazy.”

The toughest part occurred at the 12 mile mark, when current was up to 10 knots and navigating became difficult.

“I would come up for water,” Chris said, “and within a split second the kayak would be pushed 10 feet away from me. I quickly realized that I would just have to put my head down and push though the next three miles as this was certainly the most trying time of the entire journey.”

Support man Jason McCambridge was astonished at Chris’ effort. He said that it was one of the coolest things he has ever been a part of in his life. When the water was at its most volatile and rough, it looked to him like nothing about Chris’ aura had changed. In fact, he thinks that Chris started swimming faster.

No matter how hard it was during the swim, Chris, in his genuine style, said that it really wasn’t that bad – especially when compared to his first triathlon.

In the 80’s, Chris was a recent hire as a security guard for the Marines on a military post in Oahu in the islands of Hawaii. Every morning he used to ride his bike 1.5 miles to a swimming pool, where he would complete his swim workout. One morning, a fellow swimmer witnessed his swimming skills and saw that he had a bike. This man asked Chris if he would be willing to do a race for him.

“Sure, if I can get leave from the Post.” Chris said, “What’s the race?”

“It’s a triathlon,” the man responded, leaving out a few minor details.

This is the story of how Chris ended up at the registration booth of Ironman Hawaii.

Ironman Hawaii on no training… completing the first ever swim of Lake Lanier…what’s next you ask?

“Swimming Lake Lanier was only the tip of the iceberg. My next goal is a 24 hour swim, when I think I can double the distance of my Lake Lanier swim.” Chris says.  Yes, that is a 42 mile swim without stopping!

“Ultimately, my goal is to return to the Hawaiian islands and swim from the Big Island of Hawaii to the coast of Maui – a total of 31 miles in rough, cold seas.” says Chris.

After having the awesome opportunity to meet Chris Shoup – I share the belief of everyone that knows him. If anyone can do it, Shoup can.