The morning of Saturday, May 16, the ocean between Johnnie Mercer’s Pier and Crystal Pier will provide the course for an open water memorial swim. Racers will travel from across the country to participate, drawn to Wrightsville Beach to honor the life of Grey Liston and celebrate his adventurous spirit.
On July 20, 2013, Liston, a former University of North Carolina Wilmington swimmer and Wrightsville Beach Ocean Rescue lifeguard, died in a mountain climbing accident in Washington’s Olympic National Park.
After the accident, Liston’s father, Rick Liston, started a scholarship endowment fund in his son’s name and held an event to raise money for the fund. Former UNCW head swim coach Dave Allen volunteered to help him organize an open water ocean swim in honor of one of Grey Liston’s favorite activities.
In May 2014, they held the first annual Stoked 2 Go Out open water memorial swim.
“Credit goes to Dave Allen,” Rick Liston said. “He was a great contributor to both of our sons and many other young people’s lives. … He’s helped us take it and turn it into something that’s just what we wanted to do, to pay it forward to a lot of young people.”
The scholarship fund will be distributed to at least one member of the UNCW swimming and diving team starting in the 2015-16 academic year. Liston said the fund has now reached $37,000 and it will soon grow even more with at least 130 entrants expected for this year’s race.
Participants will travel from across the country to take part in the event. Liston said his son had many friends, not just in Wilmington but in other cities like Portland, Ore., and Seattle, Wash., where he lived or spent time.
“It’s a real family atmosphere there with a lot of love, a lot of friends,” Liston said.
The swimmers will line up on the beach at 9 a.m. and swim from one pier to the other. The current direction determines whether the racers swim north or south, Liston said.
There will be emotional moments at the finish line, he added, like when his wife, Gail Liston, crosses. The 2014 race was her first open water swim and she trained for six months to be able to complete it by herself.
The participants’ open water swimming experience is less important, Liston said, than their willingness to explore and appreciate the beauty of nature through activity. He said that’s the way his son lived every day.
“At one of his memorial services, someone from Portland … said, ‘That guy was always stoked to go out,’” he said. “So we adopted that slogan … as a reminder of that spirit that people need to keep, about how valuable life is and how valuable all your friends and family are.”
For more information or to register visit
www.stokedtogoout.com
email [email protected]
