Results tagged “brooklynbridgeswim”

A 59-year-old man died shortly after beginning the annual Brooklyn Bridge Swim in the East River. Richard Harley, a 59-year-old California resident, apparently started having problems a few minutes into the 1K swim. Newsday reports that the race began 9:45 a.m, "He was pronounced dead at Downtown Beekman Hospital at 10:10 a.m." NYC Swim's Monty Berger said that kayakers, boaters, emergency personnel and even another swimmer were trying to save him. The swimmer, Melody Baglione, told the Daily News she saw him floating near the South Street Seaport, "He was definitely unconscious," and tried to give him CPR. Harley was raising money for a girls' school in Kenya. Berger said Harley had been recently certified with swimming 3.3K in 54 minutes, "This guy wasn't slow. For his age, he had some nice speed... I am saddened this happened. We work really hard to put on these events for people from around the world. This is not how you want to this to end up."