Triathlete Hero!

From the local paper this morning.  When you think about it, not many people have the courage or the ability to dive into cold, cold water swim a click then pull a boat and two people back.  Good on you, Casey Peirce.  Not sure if you're a BT'er, but nice job.

http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2008/07/30/6305441-sun.html

CANMORE -- Despite the danger of diving into the frigid mountain water near Canmore, a Calgary triathlete risked her safety to rescue a pair of boaters whose canoe had capsized, dragging them and their boat to shore.

Casey Peirce, 30, was on a bicycle ride with family near Spray Lakes Saturday night, when the group heard two people in the water yelling for help.

They saw a man and woman about a kilometre from shore clinging to their overturned canoe and Peirce, a strong swimmer, dove in for them.

"To be honest I thought twice about jumping in because I know how cold that water is," said Peirce, who works at the Canadian Sports Centre in Calgary.

"But I had recently done a triathlon and I knew I had the training to do it."

She said it took 15 minutes to swim out to the couple, but at least 45 minutes to swim back with them in tow, her sister Darcy dialling 911 from shore.

Peirce said she knew that since the couple had already been in the water for an hour, and the woman was mostly submerged, that they didn't have a lot of time left before they might have succumbed to the cold water.

"When I got to them, I first asked them if they were injured, but they were both too cold to speak," Peirce said.

"I knew by the time anyone else got to them, it would be too late."

The swim proved trying for the triathlete, as she towed the canoe with a rope tied around her waist, her hands too cold to pull it.

"It was really cold and by the last 50 metres it got pretty heavy," Peirce said.

"I couldn't feel my limbs any more, but I saw Dad on shore with a rope and he towed me in the last part.

"It was a team effort at the end."

The canoe had an outboard motor attached that was dragging under water.

The boaters had a serious case of hypothermia, said conservation officer Rod Jaeger.

"The two people had been out canoeing when they got caught in a storm," Jaeger said.

"They were hit by a four-foot swell and it capsized their boat.

"They were hanging onto the boat for over an hour."

Once on shore, Peirce's parents and sister worked feverishly to warm the trio, with help from the warmth of Jaeger's truck.

The pair, believed to be in their 40s or 50s, had tried swimming to shore, but went back to their canoe because they kept getting swept down the lake, Peirce's mother Heather said.

Even if they had made it to shore, they would have had a four-kilometre walk to the nearest campsite.

Though embarrassed by the ordeal, the couple, who did not require hospitalization, did phone Peirce's parents at their Canmore home to offer sincere thanks for the rescue.

"They said 'it was amazing to see the four of you on that shore,' " Heather said.

"You kind of think there is divine intervention sometimes.

"It was bizarre and surreal, but they finally got home at about midnight."