The Wrigley Ocean Marathon!: 1927's Brutal Swimming Race From Catalina to the California Mainland

Don't Know Beach About History: Short Histories of Long Beach

1927’s Wrigley Ocean Marathon was an epic and brutal swimming race from the island of Catalina to the mainland of California, a feat never before recorded. Many of the world’s most famous swimmers came to Long Beach to train and compete for the race’s $25,000 prize. In this episode, we’ll look at how two virtually unknown swimmers—George Young of Canada and Myrtle Huddleston of Long Beach—battled severe exhaustion, fierce currents, frigid water, disorienting fog, and a barracuda attack to accomplish something a Los Angeles Times headline called the “Greatest Achievement in [the] History of Aquatics.”