Saturday, April 28, 2012
Farmington Hills resident Jenny Birmelin will throw out the first pitch at the May 6 Detroit Tigers home game.
- LOCAL CONNECTIONS
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Saturday, April 28, 2012
Farmington Hills resident Jenny Birmelin, the first and only Michigan woman to successfully swim the English Channel, will fulfill a life-long dream of throwing-out the ceremonial first pitch at a Detroit Tigers home game, Sunday, May 6 against the Chicago White Sox. “This is truly an honor. I can’t wait," said Birmelin, 34. "My dad and I would go to Tigers’ games when I was a kid. I always took my glove and scored the game in my program. I still have a ball signed by the 1987 team.” Birmelin set the record as the fastest American to swim English Channel in 2011. She swam the equivalent of 28 land miles in a time of 11 hours, 21 minutes. During her swim, she battled 58-degree salt water wearing only a bathing suit, goggles and regular …
Monday, October 17, 2011
The Farmington Hills resident said she got through the 11-hour swim with help from her friends.
Jenny Birmelin of Farmington Hills seems like a natural storyteller, and she has quite a story to tell. Michigan's first woman English Channel swimmer shared the tale of her 11½-hour adventure with family and friends Friday evening in a presentation at the Farmington Family YMCA. Birmelin talked for more than an hour, recounting her journey from training in local pools, lakes and bays to crawling onto a sandy beach in Wissant, France. Birmelin trained for more than a year in open water, even in winter, braving water temperatures below 50 degrees. "I finally knew I could do this when I swam across Lake St. Clair in 2010," she said, adding that the realization was an emotional moment. "Around six hours, I started getting tears in my eyes." …
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YMCA
28100 Farmington Rd, Farmington Hills, MI
/articles/birmelin-recounts-grueling-english-channel-swim
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/locations/5606647
Friday, September 9, 2011
The West Bloomfield teacher and Farmington Hills resident said she intends to use her successful swim as a learning tool for the rest of her career.
Since completing her lifelong dream of swimming the English Channel last month, teacher Jenny Birmelin has rededicated herself to inspiring her students at Orchard Lake Middle School in West Bloomfield, where she has taught mathematics since 2003. As the Farmington resident instructed a sixth-grade class on the second day of school Thursday, Birmelin saw a group of children who were trying to get acclimated to new surroundings. Addressing the students by the names of their former elementary school—“Monica, a Green Gator”—Birmelin worked to make the students feel comfortable by bringing back what was already familiar to them. It’s an idea from which she benefited during her 28.04-mile swim Aug. 20, as she was accompanied by companion …
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Orchard Lake Middle School
6000 Orchard Lake Rd, West Bloomfield, MI
/articles/english-channel-swimmer-birmelin-returns-to-orchard-lake-middle-school
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Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Jenny Birmelin is the first Michigan woman to complete an English Channel crossing.
- SPORTS
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Tuesday, August 23, 2011
On Saturday, Farmington Hills resident Jenny Birmelin, age 34, became the first Michigan woman to complete a solo swim of the English Channel. While Birmelin remains in England on vacation until August 31, Katy Michalski volunteer and vice-president of marketing for Birmelin's swim club, Ford Athletic Swim and Triathlon (FAST) released this information: Birmelin began her swim at 12:05 a.m. EST at Shakespeare Beach in Dover, England and arrived 11:36 a.m. EST the same day on the sandy beach of Wissant, France. While the English Channel is 21 miles, she actually swam 28 land miles (24 nautical miles), due to the tides. Her official recorded time is 11 hours, 31 minutes and 7 seconds, which is faster than her anticipated time of 13 hours and…
Scott Campbell
4:39 pm on Friday, September 9, 2011
There's no doubt Jenny will be an inspiration to her students and hopefully others. Forget star athletes -- our kids need more role models like this. Thanks for bringing this nice follow-up to the Channel swim story, Tim. It's great that Patch can make us aware of things like this. more ›