Lighthouse Sports For Charity
By Sue Clark on Aug 31, 2007 in Other 
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A lot of times we hear of various road races for charity associated with lighthouses, such as the Beach to Beacon 10K event in Portland, Maine, which runs from Crescent Beach State Park to Portland Head Lighthouse Or the Lighthouse to Lighthouse Race on Long Island, which uses human powered seaworthy vessels to race the fourteen miles starting on the south side of Compo Beach, winding around Cockenoe Island, going around Pecks Ledge Lighthouse, then head south to Greens Ledge Lighthouse and come back along the same course to finish in front of Compo Beach. But two recent charity events this past weekend associated with lighthouses caught the eye.
One was the seven mile Light 2 Light swim between Boon Island Lighthouse and Nubble Lighthouse in Maine, completed by Jeff Patten. Ultimately, he ended swimming closer to twelve miles due to the current, five foot waves and frigid, Atlantic waters. The swim took him six hours and 38 minutes, and raised more than $15,000 for York Hospital’s Caring For All program. By the time he completed the grueling course, he was in the first stages of hypothermia and told reporters from Seacoast Online that “the water temp was about 55 degrees after about two miles out,” he said. “It was very cold. I was getting sick during the swim, too.”
This is not the first time that Jeff Patten has swum for charity. He’s completed the trip several times, and his best time, according to the York County Hospital archives, was three hours and 57 minutes.
Across the waters, in Scotland, nearly a hundred brave souls rappeled down the Ardnamurchan Lighthouse to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support, which provides practical, medical, emotional and financial support to those in the north of Scotland affected by cancer. The charity hoped to raise between £15,000 and £20,000.
Ardnamurchan Lighthouse was built in 1849 of Mull granite, but in the “Egyptian Style,” by the principal engineer to the Board of Lighthouses, Alan Stevenson, a relative of Robert Louis Stevenson. It is situated on the westernmost point of the British Mainland. There has been much speculation about its name. Two of the most common are: Point of the Sea-hounds or Otters (Airde meaning Point, Muirchu meaning sea-hound or otters), or the Point of the Pirates or Wreckers (where the “col” from Muirchol means wickedness).
Lighthouses may be outmoded from a mariner’s point of view, but these two events show that even for non-lighthouse preservation, they come in handy as a focus of fundraising. Have yu heard of any other unusual fundraisers based at lighthouses? Leave a comment and tell about it.
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