Triathlete (Competitor) | Alcatraz, My Alcatraz: Taking On The San Francisco Bay Swim

The “Little Mexican,” Pedro Ordenes, is actually a Chilean, and swimming in cold water is in his blood. He grew up in Punta Arenas, Chile, on the shore of the Strait of Magellan, the next step north of the Antarctic Peninsula. There is a rumor that Ordenes freezes his oatmeal into popsicles for breakfast.

Gary Emich is an escaped Florida beach boy, a USAT-certified swimming coach and a retired post office official. Here is the thing about these two guys: They have each swum from Alcatraz more than 600 times, and they are locked in a duel to the death to see who will end up with the most Alcatraz swims ever before meeting the Grim Reaper.

Continued on triathlete.competitor.com