WEST SEATTLE SCENE: Beach-party birthday for open-water swimming legend
(WSB photos by Oliver Hamlin)
That’s Guila Muir, celebrating her 70th birthday at Alki Beach on Sunday. Not just on the beach – but also in the water!
Guila is a legend in the local community of open-water swimmers – those folks you see swimming off Alki, and sometimes far beyond! She tells WSB she’s not only celebrating the milestone birthday, but also 20 years of open-water swimming:
Her birthday party on Sunday also doubled as the kickoff for this year’s open-water-swimming season, though as she’ll tell you, “many swim year-round.” Kind of difficult to get a group shot in the water, so Guila and friends did that on dry land:
Among her personal highlights in the water, organizing the history-making Silver Seals of the Salish Sea crossing between Bainbridge and Alki back in 2021; she was also part of the Salish Sirens relay last year. So her party celebrated good times past and present.
Back in 2019, we covered a panel discussion hosted by Muir featuring other women from the open-water swimming community explaining their sport.
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