40 Miles, four lakes, four days

The next part of the race was hard on the body and even harder on the mind. It seemed to go on forever.”

Stephen Heidari-Robinson

Under a dark Arizona sky, with only scattered shoreline lights and the silhouettes of mountains to guide them, two English swimmers pushed themselves through Roosevelt Lake in the final miles of one of the world’s toughest open-water competitions.

Just four days earlier, on April 22, Stephen Heidari-Robinson and Chris Cook had begun SCAR, a roughly 40-mile endurance event on four central Arizona lakes that tests even the most experienced distance swimmers.

The two men would both finish and place in the event, but in the days and moments leading up to the finish, they faced counter currents, fluctuating water temperatures, heavy winds and stretches that seemed to go on forever. 

“If there had been anyone to give up to at that point I probably would have,” Heidari-Robinson said of the third leg. “Somehow I got to the final straight and felt good again. I was in the water for 7.5 hours — much longer than I had planned — and I almost ran out of water.”

Since 2012, this competition has drawn athletes from around the world to swim Saguaro, Canyon, Apache and Roosevelt Lakes over four days.

This year, 58 people participated, including swimmers from across the United States as well as France, Ireland and Hong Kong. Cook was the overall winner, completing all four lakes in 16 hours and 8 minutes, while Heidari-Robinson placed third in the men’s division with a total time of 18 hours and 34 minutes. 

Chris, second from left, and Stephen, far right, wait with the fastest wave of swimmers at the start line for the final swim at Roosevelt Lake — a night swim.

Courtesy Photo

While both were competitive swimmers in their youth, neither Heidari-Robinson, 51, or Cook, 45, had really begun open water swimming until the COVID-19 pandemic closed pools across England. The two turned instead to lakes and the sea, during which time they eventually would meet. 

Since then, Cook has completed the English Channel, the Catalina Channel, the Gibraltar Strait, and the Bosphorus Cross Continental Swim, while Heidari-Robinson finished third in the English Lake District’s “triple crown” last year, the Chillswim Triple Crown.

This year is Cook’s second time competing in SCAR, having first competed in 2023, after learning about SCAR by chance, when he saw the acronym on a beanie and asked the wearer what it meant.  

“The lady explained how it was four lakes in Arizona, swum over consecutive days, and meant to be extremely tough,” he recalls. “I was sold there and then; I love a challenge.”

When Heidari-Robinson learned Cook planned to return to SCAR this year, he decided to join him as part of his own preparation for the English Channel. 

Part of SCAR’s appeal is both the challenge and the scenery, as each lake offers a different experience. 

Given the distances involved, swimmers rely heavily on support crews. Each swimmer is paired with a kayaker who guides them along the course and provides food and water every half hour. 

Stephen and his kayaker John, in center, on Apache Lake, the third lake in the competition.

Courtesy Photo

Saguaro Lake, at 9.5 miles, is considered the event’s warm-up swim. This year, however, it proved especially difficult. 

“The Mormon Flat Dam decided to celebrate its 100th birthday by drawing a counter current to create hydro electric power,” Heidari-Robinson said. 

“Swimming against this was as hard as you might imagine,” he said. “I remember thinking: I have suddenly got really bad at swimming, but also no one is overtaking me — just what is going on?! It took me 4.5 hours to complete this swim. It was absolutely brutal.”

The nine-mile swim at Canyon Lake the following day proved much more forgiving. Water temperatures began at 57 degrees and warmed to 68 as the day progressed. The lake’s twists and turns, however, make kayakers especially important for navigation. 

The third leg of the competition takes swimmers 17 miles across Apache Lake, what organizers call “the big enchilada” of the event and “the one you travel to Arizona to swim.”   

It’s also notoriously windy. As expected, the wind picked up about halfway through the swim.

“We were swimming directly into it,” Heidari-Robinson said. “The next part of the race was hard on the body and even harder on the mind. It seemed to go on forever.”

The fourth and final day consists of a 6.5-mile course at Roosevelt Lake, the event’s only night swim. 

By the end of the fourth day, only 22 swimmers, including Heidari-Robinson and Cook, had completed all four lakes — a reminder that SCAR is one of the longest marathon swims in the world. 

A view of lights from kayaks in the distance as paddlers guide night swimmers on Roosevelt Lake

Courtesy Photo