The 40-year-old Ironman triathlete, long distance cyclist and endurance swimmer frequently visits family in Bala and learned to swim in Lake Muskoka.

He departed Niagara-on-the-Lake at 4:30 p.m. for the Aug. 15 endurance test, dubbed Swim for Kids. He arrived at Marilyn Bell Park 19-1/2 hours later.

While donations continue to roll in, Chisholm’s Swim for Kids has so far collected $25,000 for the Hospital for Sick Children’s burn unit. He is now the second oldest Canadian male to swim across Lake Ontario, 54 years after Marilyn Bell’s maiden crossing.

“It was good,” Chisholm told this newspaper following his swim. “There was a lot of rough water in the middle of the lake that we didn’t expect.”

Chisholm said thunderstorms in Toronto Friday afternoon brought up the wind and caused waves for him to contend with.

For the first eight hours of the swim, he had the luxury of a SwiMp3, an underwater MP3 music player to keep him company. Once the battery died, Chisholm said much of his mind was put on hold.

Swimming overnight, Chisholm said the temperature dipped down to 63 degrees, which was close to his 60-degree limit.

“I had to stop to eat every half-hour and would get pretty cold because my body wasn’t working,” he said. His meals consisted of bottled water and sodium supplement pills, following an initial power gel of straight carbohydrates, he said. “I tried to keep the feedings down to 30 seconds to minimize a drop in body temperature.”

“The cold can really take up your concentration,” he said. “I think I spent most of the time hoping it wasn’t going to get any colder. When I finished the swim, my hands and feet were quite swollen from absorbing all the water.”

When Chisholm emerged from the water on Aug. 16 just after noon, he was greeted by 20 to 30 friends and family, media and the Toronto Fire Services’ William Lyon Mackenzie fire boat. Sick Kids Foundation also presented Chisholm with a plaque commemorating the fundraising swim.

“It’s very rewarding,” Chisholm said. “I always wanted to do something, but I never knew what to do.”

The Lake Ontario swim was monitored by Solo Swims of Ontario, whose purpose is to ensure all open-water, solo long-distance swims in Ontario adhere to strict safety guidelines. The organization pays particular attention to cross-lake swims in the Great Lakes.

Chisholm’s aunt Jane Shumaker, who witnessed his successful trial swim around Bala Park Island from her dock June 29, made the trip to Toronto in support of her nephew.

Shumaker, development services department assistant for the Town of Gravenhurst, said she was very proud of the “phenomenal” donation the swim garnered for Sick Kids’ Hospital, which takes care of about 125 to 200 kids annually.

Donations can still be made online at www.swimforkids.ca.