MAUMEE – Think of it as a two-for-one event and a healthy partnership. Partners for Clean Streams will have a kickoff meeting to train water quality monitor volunteers from 1-3 p.m. on April 19 in the Indianola Shelter at Farnsworth Metropark.
There will also be a special guest: A woman who is training to swim the English Channel, and she has a few things to say about the need for clean water and empowering women.
Oh, yes, and that woman, Amy Wamsley, will take a dip in the Maumee River to punctuate her messages, including why swimming is healthy in more ways than one.
Wamsley, 49, is a business consultant from the Dayton area who has been training for months to do the iconic marathon swim from England to France, considered by some to be Mount Everest of water-based endurance feats.
“I first dreamed of swimming the English Channel when I was 12,” Wamsley said. “I came across a magazine article about swimmers who completed the challenge. At the time, I was a competitive swimmer, and I remember thinking, ‘If they can do it, so can I.’”
Wamsley set a goal of completing the swim by age 50. “My swim window closes just three days before my 50th birthday. This is my chance to fulfill that promise to my 12-year-old self.”
There’s more to it than plunging in the water. Wamsley registered with the agency overseeing the swims and was assigned a timeframe during the channel swim season. She leaves for England May 14 – her swim window is May 30 through June 10. She’ll be accompanied by a piloted boat with two friends on board for medical and overall support.
She said typically there are several swimmers making the crossing at a time, spread out in the channel. The swim takes about 15 hours to cover the roughly 21 miles.
Why be in Northwest Ohio and connect with Partners for Clean Streams, based in Perrysburg? One of her goals of the channel swim is to raise awareness of the need for clean water.
“Clean water is essential, not only for swimmers, but for entire ecosystems,” she said. “Poor water quality can expose people to harmful bacteria, chemicals and pollutants, increasing the risk of infections and illness.”
Wamsley speaks from experience. On a training swim in what was thought to be clean water, she got a severe bacterial infection. She’s also seen trash and pollution in some swims.
“We drink this water. It’s what we’re swimming in, pulling fish out of,” she said, referencing the Maumee River’s famous Walleye Run.
To spread her message of water health, Wamsley has reached out to agencies connected to Ohio’s scenic rivers – of which the Maumee is one.
“Our organization built our mission around partnering with individuals and organizations who share similar missions,” said Kayla Kirkpatrick, Partners for Clean Streams program specialist. “When Amy came to us, she expressed her reasoning, which we were very excited to hear.
“We decided that our April 19 Water Quality Monitoring Training event would be a perfect way to tie in the two missions. We believe in having fishable, swimmable, drinkable waters. How could we say no?”
Kirkpatrick continued, “We felt that we could support each other’s mission by sharing our volunteer base to her efforts. In return, we felt that Amy’s swim would be a great way to spark the interest of people in our community to come join us, not just for the event itself, but continue to take part in the future.”
Wamsley addressed the health issue. “Swimming is one of the best full-body exercises, offering physical and mental health benefits. On a personal level, swimming has had a profound impact on my own health journey.”
There’s more to her undertaking than health and promoting clean water. “I don’t look like someone who’s going to swim the English Channel,” she said matter-of-factly.
“It doesn’t matter what our bodies look like. No matter how old we are, we can still try to [pursue dreams]. There’s a whole thing about women empowerment. We can still encourage each other to succeed in whatever it is that we want to succeed in.”
Wamsley added, “This past year has been one of the hardest of my life, and I truly believe that without swimming and a dedicated goal to work toward, it would have been much more difficult to navigate.”
Registration for the April 19 training is available here.
