Coach Emily Receives Jan Morrow Award

Congratulations to OMSC Coach Emily Epp, this year’s recipient of the Jan Morrow Award.  Jan Morrow was an active member of the Kelowna Masters Swim Club (KMSC) in the 1990s who contributed significantly to the local Masters swimming community as a member of the KMSC executive and as a race director for the Across the Lake Swim.  After Jan lost her battle with cancer, an annual award was created in her name to recognize a swimmer who demonstrates determination, inspiration and a positive attitude within the local swimming community.

Coach Emily embodies many of the attributes the underpin the Jan Morrow Award.  In 2017, Emily (age 17) became the youngest Canadian in history to successfully complete a solo swim of the English Channel without the aide of a wetsuit.  To put this swim in perspective, it is a 35 km non-stop swim that challenges swimmers with cold water (15’C), rough seas, strong currents, many large ships and jellyfish that sting!  In fact, more people of successfully summited Mount Everest than have ever conquered the English Channel.  Emily accomplished the feat in just under 12 hours.  What made her swim even more impressive was the fact that she could not keep food down for the 1^st 6 hours (the seas were extremely rough), she was stung multiple times by jellyfish, and she swam most of the distance at night.  Even the hardiest and most experienced ocean marathon swimmers would have been challenged to complete the journey under these conditions.

As inspiring as Emily’s Channel swim was, equally if not more impressive was the fact that she leveraged her swim to raise over $120,000 in support of Canuck Place, a hospice for sick children that has provided care over the years to her disabled sister, Elan.  In addition to this impressive accomplishment, Emily contributes to her local swimming community by coaching the youth (Kelowna Aquajets Swim Club), masters (Okanagan Masters Swim Club), open-water swimmers (ATLS swim clinics), aspiring marathon swimmers, and triathletes (Emily is the volunteer swim director for the Kelowna Apple Triathlon).  When Emily is not supporting her swim community, she is a full time student at Okanagan College and she is a caregiver for her sister.

Congratulations to Emily on receiving the coveted Jan Morrow Award.