The owner of Sands on Golden Lake has crossed off something special on her bucket list. On Sunday July 28, 2024, Joanne Lovering dove into Golden Lake and started her mission, to swim across the lake with no help. She had her son, daughter-in-law and her grandchild alongside her in canoes and kayaks with food, water, first aid kit, life jackets to make sure she was doing it safely.
The distance that Joanne ended up swimming was 7km and it took her roughly three hours to make it across the lake. She also didn’t use any help while swimming across. One thing she mentions is that she did get a sun burn on her face, which she said she can live with. “My joints and muscles feel perfect and I got a goodnight sleep afterwards. The sun burn is the worse thing but isn’t even bad.
She has owned the Inn for three years, her son and Lovering opened up the new gym called Silverback in March and wanted to spread awareness about the new gym by swimming across the lake. As her son said “It’s all about fitness and keeping active and healthy.”
Joanne posted on Facebook telling the community what she was doing and that anyone who wanted to join her can do so. Four ladies who had a cottage on the other side of the lake decided they wanted to join her mission and see if they can swim across the lake, one out of the four made it all the way across.
There were many of people who saw her post on Facebook and ended up coming out to support. One local fisherman joined the group and followed along in his fishing boat telling the swimmers the depth of the lake as they crossed it. Joanne tells the community that she hopes next year more people will want to come out and try it out for themselves.
Lovering humorously addressed community concerns about encountering the Golden Lake monster, reassuring everyone that she only saw bugs and birds during her swim. Encouraged by the turnout, she hopes more people will join her next year for another cross-lake swim.
(Written by: Emma Butler)