77-year-old aqua jogger finishes multi-day “run” to buy Bible camp a new truck
Mike Turner of Columbia Falls, Mont., called his 59 km watery trek "a daunting task for an old fart like me"
A 77-year-old aqua jogger has completed his multi-day quest to travel the length of the Hungry Horse Reservoir in northwestern Montana, covering a very wet 59 kilometres in just under 12 days.
Mike Turner, a lifelong resident of nearby Columbia Falls, Mont., who set out from the southeastern end of the reservoir on July 12, had hoped to aqua jog six hours a day to reach the other end of the body of water at Abbot Bay within 10 to 14 days. Missoula’s KPAX reports Turner reached the shore—and his targeted time—on the speedier side, completing his epic water run in 11 days and 23 hours.
Helping to put the wind in Turner’s sails was his goal of raising enough money for the purchase of a new truck for the Dickey Lake Bible Camp, where he volunteers, to replace the camp’s aged vehicle.
Turner wasn’t sure of the exact distance he’d have to aqua jog to complete the challenge. but it turned out he was pretty good at eyeballing it. “I’m putting in at the 47-mile mark, but that’s on the road. I don’t think it’s much more than 30, 35 miles with the straight line I’m going to go,” he told Hungry Horse News in the final weeks before his attempt. His route ended up being 36.7 miles. “It’s still a daunting task for an old fart like me. If it was 20 years ago I would have done the whole shoreline.”
Turner conceded aqua jogging isn’t the quickest way to get around. “I don’t go very fast. My best time is an hour and 46 minutes to go about a mile. I’m hoping that the flow of the river will push me a little faster and maybe I can do it in about an hour and a half.”
But he said it’s a great way to get exercise, especially for those facing mobility challenges. “I started aqua jogging after I took a fall in ’91 and it took me a year to heal up. … Then I got in a car wreck in ’96. Now I just do it for pleasure—it’s a lot of fun,” said Turner. “If you have a back injury, disc problems or especially (hip problems), get in the water. It’s zero impact, there’s all that resistance and you can heal up just fine.”
He added that water running opens up a world that isn’t accessible through any other activity. “When you’re out here on the water, if you have the right glasses on, you can see down in the water, see this beautiful country, and you can see on top of the water, and there are some phenomenal things that happen on top of the water that people don’t notice when they’re on kayaks or boats or whatever.”
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