U.S. Masters Swimming Fitness Award

Recipient:	Christie Ciraulo
Year:	2021
LMSC:	Southern Pacific

Christie Ciraulo, of Southern Pacific LMSC, was a lifelong competitive swimmer and was the founder of ‘The Mighty Mermaids’, which was a group of 6 women swimmers more than 65 years of age. In 2019 Christie and her fellow Mermaids completed the Triple Crown of Open Water swimming when they blazed across the English Channel. The Triple Crown of Open Water swimming included these 3 events: The English Channel (20 miles), Catalina Island (20 miles), and Swim Around Manhattan (30 miles), and in addition the Mermaids have completed 14 long distance relays together. Christie swam every day, either ocean or pool and sometimes both. Christie was an avid body boarder, and she took great joy in introducing, encouraging, and educating pool swimmers to the benefits and joy of ocean swimming during Covid pool shutdowns. Christie felt her greatest achievement in swimming was being able to bring together and meld pool swimmers and open water swimmers who simply desired to swim and to stay fit.