On an overcast Sunday morning in early June, Conner Bailey swam 9.2 miles, nonstop, down the Tennessee River, to a first-place finish in U.S. Masters Swimming’s 2017 Ultramarathon Distance Open Water National Championship in Chattanooga. And, get this. With a time of 2:42:55, the Auburn University rural sociology professor emeritus reached the finish line a staggering 25 minutes and 55 seconds ahead of his closest, and only, competitor in the 70-74 age bracket and left 10 men who were 10 and 20 years his junior in his wake. Not too shabby for an old guy. Especially an old guy who, 18 months before, had been dogpaddling upstream in a race for his life.
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