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. Most recently she competed in the 2008 Rottnest Channel Swim off the coast of Perth, Western Australia (photos), and in June 2009 swam the 12-mile Key West race and highly recommends it to anyone interested in distance swimming! 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 and in June 2007 on his Manhattan Island Swim.

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.

A native Californian, Leslie has lived in Pennsylvania, New York, and Germany. She has a degree in Biology from Bryn Mawr College and worked in academic publishing for nine years.

^{Photo courtesy of Nathan Rapheld}