Marcella MacDonald

When not swimming the English Channel, two ways, Marcy lives in Andover, Conn.

Commentary for Today - August 31, 2001 Scott Gray - WTIC Radio - Marcy MacDonald has the captivating smile of the girl next door and the unbridled enthusiasm of that cheerleader who captured your heart and diverted your attention from the field of play.  If it's true what they say, that life is your oyster, Marcy shucks a new one every day.  It's as plain as the twinkle in her eyes that every day is a new adventure to her and anyone who doesn't grab hold and ride it all the way out is to be pitied.  In Eastern Connecticut Marcy MacDonald is a local girl in the truest sense of the word.  She graduated from Manchester High School, where she was on the swimming team, she lives in Andover and she prepares for each swimming challenge in Columbia Lake, the center piece of a pastoral little town with a gazebo on the town green which is surrounded by a white wood frame town hall and the New England classic white church with a towering steeple.  Her life is set in true Americana, small town folk with small town values who embrace the accomplishments of one of their own as extensions of themselves.  And so it was at Columbia's town beach last night, when Marcy emerged from the waters of the lake in which she trains to a boisterous round of cheers and applause from a large throng of well wishers, on hand to celebrate her historic achievement.  The first American woman ever to accomplish a double crossing of the English Channel had officially come home, returned to the loving embrace of a hometown that has no official borders. Fewer than seven hundred people have swum the English Channel one way, fewer than half of them have done it both ways. More people have climbed Mount Everest. Winning a Most Valuable Player award in any major league sport pales by comparison.  There are few, if any, sports accomplishments as legendary as a crossing of the channel. It takes incredible perseverance. Few who have done it have persevered more than Marcy MacDonald.  Three times she crossed one way, always with the fabled "touch and go" in mind.  The first time a torn biceps stopped her. The second time she was stalled by an overwhelming amount of pollution on the heavily traveled waterway. On the third attempt she touched the French shore knowing she was already too cold to finish the return, heartbroken at the prospects of telling her crew. This time, the fourth time, in July, from Dover to France and back to England, twenty one hours and nineteen minutes in frigid water, she swam into the history books. No American woman had ever touched the French shore and gone on to return to England, until Marcy MacDonald. Hour after hour, through the dark of night, counting strokes, ninety five thousand of them, thinking of a warm bath, a warm bed and warm blankets, always looking ahead to the crew that had worked so hard to help her make it possible.  It's the incredible story of a local girl who just happened to make history, yet it's just another of those quiet little stories of a girl next door to whom the best part of making history was just coming home.  With a comment from the sports world, I'm Scott Gray.