About Us / FAQ

EVENT SPECIFICATIONS

Take the lake is four “Personal Endurance Challenges” designed to bring out the best in you. This is not a race, it is free, and you can choose to accept any one or all challenges.

Saturday, Sept. 4, at 8 a.m., the 15-mile walk begins at the Lake Waccamaw State Park visitor’s center.

Sunday, Sept. 5, at 8 a.m., the 14-mile paddle begins on the public beach next to Dale’s Seafood

Then, at 2 p.m., the 15-mile Bike & Hike begins at Dale’s.

Monday, Sept. 6, at 8 a.m., the 4-mile swim begins either at Dale’s or the dam, depending on winds.

WHO AND WHAT ARE WE?
This is a good question that many people are asking, mainly because of what we are not; we are not a “quadrathlon” or even a race, and we’re not a fundraising event – so far we have even been able to offer this event for free.

So, why are we Take the Lake, and what are we doing? We are people who love beautiful Lake Waccamaw, N.C. and have become enthralled with the simple, but challenging, concept of – to use a military term – “taking*” Lake Waccamaw. We walk completely around this bay lake, we cycle most of the way, and walk our bicycles through the state park. We paddle completely around the lake, and we swim across the lake. We love to do this so much, each year, that we’re just beside ourselves encouraging others to join in.

Lake Waccamaw is beautiful, and during most of your walk or bike ride, you will be able to look out over this blue vista. You will walk or ride through several distinct sections. Walkers leave the state park and first experience the “young” and sparsely developed Bella Coola Road, then up on the limestone bluff along Lake Shore Drive. Your walk down Canal Cove Road takes you through the oldest section of homes and summer cottages along the canal, and then Waccamaw Shores with its all-American suburban feel. The prettiest leg, many agree, begins when you cross the dam and walk the Lake Waccamaw State Park trail along the shoreline – you’ll often feel as though you’re on a tropical island.

Keep an eye on the lake as you travel, and watch the weather and the winds, experiencing subtle and climatic changes as you come full-circle. Watch the sun travel all around you as you box the compass. When you are nearly through your walk, take a short break and step out onto the pier along the state park trail. Look across the water – far across the water – to the shore some five miles away, and consider that you just carried yourself all the way over there and back. It’s a rewarding feeling few people experience.

Columbus County was recently rated as the least healthy county in North Carolina, and we see Take the Lake as a way to encourage people to adopt healthier lifestyles. Few people can easily complete one or all four Take the Lake Personal Endurance Challenges without training, so we hope people will begin training during the summer, changing their lifestyle and diets to get themselves in shape. If you do this each year, it should be easier to train, because you will likely maintain yourself in better condition throughout the year.

HISTORY
Swimming across Lake Waccamaw has been a personal achievement for generations, with its first proponent, Lee J. Greer, encouraging hundreds of youths and adults to join him each year, as far back as the 1940s, and it would become a Labor Day tradition. At the turn of this century, Grant Egley began organizing a walk around the lake each year on the same weekend. In 2008, a pilot event was organized, adding paddling and cycling, and in 2009, more than 400 people participated in Take the Lake.

Q: What is Take the Lake?

A: It is a set of four “Personal Endurance Challenges” designed to inspire and motivate participants to exercise and achieve goals and a level of fitness they can be proud of.

* Q: Why do you call it Take the Lake?

A: When a military unit “takes” a hill or city or, well, a lake, they surround it, they capture it, and it is theirs. There is no doubt that if you walk completely around this lake, you will have “taken” it, and then you can call it yours, and then you can take a rest!

Q: How much does it cost?

A: Free, so far, and for as long as we can…

Q: Why is it not a race?

A: Take the Lake organizers are passionate about providing a fitness event for the average person. We do keep times, but we do not promote the four PECs as races. We love to have anyone participate – including marathoners and triathletes – but our hearts are in this for the person who just wants or needs this kind of incentive to get or stay fit.