Birthday dip

William Ikola has always loved being in the water, so for his 86th birthday the Thunder Bay man took a swim across Boulevard Lake.

He entered the water from Birch Point Park and swam across the city’s manmade lake to the boat launch on the other side with a pair of lifeguards at his side.

"I want to accomplish this just to prove to myself that I can do it," Ikola said. "How many men my age would ever have accomplished something like this?"

It took him about 20 minutes to cross the lake and he raised his arms in victory at the finish line amidst cheers from family and the Boulevard Lake lifeguards.

"It’s one of my very special days of my entire life," he said. "It was a lot of fun, but it was a little harder than I expected. I think I did OK; I could have done better."

"If I would have never smoked, I think I would have done it very easily," he added.

In his younger years, Ikola said he could swim eight miles non-stop and dove from heights as high as 90 feet growing up in eastern Ontario.

"I learned to swim when I was about 10 years old and I was in the water every day, every single day as a kid," he said. "That was my greatest enjoyment."

Ikola said the idea to celebrate his birthday with the swim came to him about a month ago and when he informed his family of his intentions they were a little skeptical at first.

His niece-in-law Gayle Ikola said her first reaction was "Oh, Uncle Bill, please don’t do this."

"But he was determined so you’ve got to stand behind him," she said. "He’s an adventuresome young, old man. He’ll just keep on going."

It was not only a proud moment for Ikola, but for his family as well.

"This is awesome," Gayle said. "I told him if he couldn’t do it not to feel badly about it but I’m very proud he finished it."

Lifeguard Jenn Bognar said the swim has been in the works for a few weeks now and Ikola’s swimming technique was perfect.

"He approached me a couple of weeks ago on the beach about doing this, that it was gong to be his birthday today and how badly he wanted to do it," she said. "He did great."

And what are Ikola’s plans for his 87^th birthday? To do it all over again, but put in some more training.

"If I stick around this world until I’m 90, I’ll do it again," he said.