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Shields to attempt lake crossing tonight
Friday July 25 2008 A Georgetown woman is planning to make history twice this weekend.
Colleen Shields, 56, expects to become the oldest woman again to swim across Lake Ontario and hopes to break the existing female record of 15 hours and 10 minutes.
Shields, a travel consultant in Mississauga, is watching the erratic weather this week and keeping her fingers crossed that it will not delay her anticipated departure from Queens Royal Park in Niagara-on-the-Lake.
If all goes as scheduled, she will step into the water around 7 p.m. tonight (Friday) and emerge around 10 a.m. Saturday at Toronto's Marilyn Bell Park.  
This will be her third crossing of Lake Ontario.
In 1990, Shields went the 53-kilometre (32-mile) distance in 17 hours and 56 minutes. Two summers ago, she bested herself by making it in 16 hours and 31 minutes.
A member of the Etobicoke Olympium Masters Aquatic Club, Shields has also conquered the chilly waters between Tobermory and Manitoulin and acted as swim master for at least eight long distance solo swimmers on Lake Ontario.
She was one of 12 swimmers to participate in the 2004 relay across the lake to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Marilyn Bell's 1954 crossing.
Shields has been training with Etobicoke Masters Coach Brent Aquino and credits him with preparing her physically and mentally for the swim.
She will be swimming for Right to Play, which provides sports opportunities to children in war-torn countries.

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