Pinoy Aquaman Macarine conquers Lake Michigan

Accomplished open-water swimmer, prosecutor and environmentalist Ingemar Macarine gives a thumbs up after crossing Lake Michigan in a a 5 kilometer open water swim. | Photo from Macarine’s Facebook page

CEBU CITY, Philippines —“Pinoy Aquaman” Ingemar Macarine never ceased to amaze everyone with his daring long-distance open water swims after he conquered Lake Michigan on Sunday, July 24 (July 25, 2022 Manila Time) in Waukegan Municipal Beach in Illinois.

Macarine swam Lake Michigan’s icy waters with a distance of five-kilometers within 2 hours and 57 minutes. It served as the 46-year-old Associate Provincial Prosecutor of Bohol’s 36th successful open water swim. 

The Surigao-born Macarine was initially scheduled to swim 10 km, but he decided to shorten it due to bad weather conditions on Lake Michigan. He was joined by Filipino-American multi-sport athletes in Nick Regorgo, Cynthia Garcia, Kylee Marie Guiraba and Rey Letada, but only the latter managed to finish the swim along with Macarine.  

“The swim took time because we only had one escort boat. We had to wait for the other swimmers and finish the swim together. The water temperature during the swim was 62F. I did not have enough cold acclimatization training so the water felt so cold. The wet suit helped but it could only protect the covered part of my body. The purpose of the swim is to promote marine conservation in the Philippines and a healthy lifestyle,” said Macarine.  

He also dedicated his swim to his friend and fellow open-water swimmer Lisa Amorao who passed away in May this year. 

“Thank you, Lord, for a successful swim. Though the weather did not cooperate today, we really enjoyed the swim,” said Macarine who has been busy since 2021 joining cycling and triathlon races to keep himself active while waiting for the restrictions to ease to return into his beloved sport. 

In an interview with CDN Digital, Macarine plans to conquer more open seas that have not been swum before. 

“Yes I will continue to conquer never-been-swum channels and seas in the Philippines with a minimum distance of 10km. I scheduled several swims before the pandemic. COVID restrictions ‘postponed’ those plans,” said Macarine who utilized cycling and triathlon to maintain his fitness. 

Overcoming the pandemic

Macarine who is based in Bohol revealed that instead of staying idle while being locked down during the pandemic, he utilized his time to exercise more at the comfort of his home. 

In addition, he also credited his healthy diet and his transition to becoming a vegan in 2017 to remain fit and healthy. However, he said that he added seafoods into his diet recently as his source of protein. 

“I never transition to other sports. I just went back to running and triathlon for cross training purposes. As a pioneer in channel swimming in the Philippines, I will always prioritize those sports,” said Macarine who is a multiple-time Ironman 70.3 finisher in Cebu and in the US. 

Macarine also revealed that he had two open water swims in Masbate and Dipolog later this year. These open water swims were supposedly scheduled before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

“I’m looking at several islands in Masbate, Leyte, and Dipolog. Definitely, a swim or two this year. I do have to manage my time since I’m now a prosecutor of the Department of Justice. I have a full schedule. The challenge is to balance my work schedule. But I still exercise daily,” said Macarine. 

His ultimate goal though is to conquer the treacherous English Channel from the United Kingdom to France which he attempted to swim in 2017, but failed to finish 33-kilometer distance swim due to bad weather.

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