A 16-year-old girl will be one of the youngest to swim around Manhattan Saturday morning — while bringing awareness to a nonprofit helping needy children around the world.
Angel More, of San Carlos, California, became the youngest person last year to complete the California Triple Crown of marathon swimming, which includes open-water swims in the Santa Barbara Channel, the Catalina Channel and Lake Tahoe.
But, the 28.5-mile “20 Bridges” swim around Manhattan will be the longest swim More has done.
“I’m excited,” she said Friday. “I’m really excited to see the city while I swim, and it’s definitely going to be much warmer. I typically swim in colder water.”
More said she did research on the cleanliness of the waterways around the island and isn’t worried about it.
“Other people have done it,” she said confidently.
With the Catalina swim complete, if More finishes the “20 Bridges,” she will be two-thirds of the way to completing the World Triple Crown. The third swim is across the English Channel, which More says she hopes to do next year or the year after.
As she works toward completing these swims — waking up at 3:30 a.m. on weekdays to swim before school — More is raising money for Children International, which sponsors children in poverty around the world.
More’s family is currently sponsoring nine kids in Guatemala, India, Honduras and Zambia, and she has already raised more than $55,000 for the organization. Her current goal is to raise $1 million to go toward HOPE scholarships, which will help 5,000 teens further their educations.
The rising high school senior had the chance to meet some of the children sponsored by Children International in Guatemala.
“I felt like they were very similar to me and my friends,” she said. “They had the same dreams, the same goals. They do the same things. It just was very unfair that I was blessed with so much and they weren’t.”
More is set to do the swim around Manhattan at about 9 a.m. Saturday, starting at Pier A in Battery Park. About 15 other people also will be doing the swim Saturday.
