Leslie Thomas

Leslie has been swimming her whole life and finds great peace and joy being in the water. In 1997 she was introduced to open water swimming on Long Island, and from the first swim she was hooked! Since then she has swum various distances in open water all over the world. In 2012 she swam the beautiful Portland Bridge swim. In 2007 she swam in the Tampa Bay Marathon for the second time, after winning the event in 2005. She also piloted her friend JP in October of 2005 on his successful English Channel swim. Since then she has crewed many people on long swims, including Catalina Channel, Manhattan, and Lake Tahoe. In 2012, Leslie was named by Swimming World Magazine as one of the top 101 Movers and Shakers in Open Water Swimming.

Leslie is a certified USAT Level 1 coach and was head swim coach for the See Jane Run all-women triathlon team for five years. She was also a coach and weekend workshop leader for Total Immersion for six years.

^{Photo courtesy of Nathan Rapheld}