Ross Youngman ’91 Aces Swimming Triple Crown

I-House alum and trustee Ross Youngman ’91 has achieved what few men or women have before: the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming.

With a swim around Manhattan Island on September 12, he completed the global feat, having swum the Catalina Channel off the California Coast in June, and the English Channel in July.

I-House President Sebastian Fries led a group of staff and residents gathered on the 125th Street Pier by the Hudson River, as Youngman swam past, to cheer him on toward the finish line at Battery Park. He completed the swim – sometimes known as the 20 Bridges Swim – in an impressive 8 hours, 2 minutes. Youngman, who turned 61 in July, swam the Catalina Channel in 13 hours, 11 minutes, and the English Channel in 14 hours, 56 minutes.

Ross achieved the Triple Crown in 102 days – no one younger in Australia has ever done so, and only four others older have managed to achieve this.

A lifelong swimmer, Youngman was high school swim team captain in his native Launceston, Tasmania, and worked as a lifeguard while studying at the University of Tasmania. In recent years he has accomplished numerous swim challenges and broken records in Australia, where he lives in Sydney with his wife Veronica Espaliat.

Youngman lived at I-House while pursuing his MBA at Columbia University. He was elected to the I-House Board of Trustees, where he is a member of the Development and Investment Committees, in 2001, and is longtime Co-Chair of the World Council of Alumni.

Fellow alumni around the world, including fellow World Council co-chairs Patricia Hamzahee ’83 and Klaus Moessle ’85, sent messages of congratulations to Ross upon his “amazing achievement.”