Janet Lamott
Janet Hill Lamott (born 14 October 1935 in Honolulu, Hawaii - died 26 April 2014) was an American masters swimmer from the San Diego Swim Masters and open water swimmer who completed a crossing of the Maui Channel and was on several Maui Channel and Catalina Channel relays.
Her friends and family considered her a "Kama'aina" (native Hawaiian) because of her Aloha spirit and love of the ocean. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, her family was evacuated by the Navy to the U.S. mainland.
Lamott swam on an age-group swim team, coached by Florence Chadwick. After two years in Japan (1948 and 1949), she studied 2 years at Stanford and 2 at Pomona College (class of 1957). She trained to be a Medical Laboratory Science Technologist at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica while raising three girls. She finished her working years with 15 at the San Diego County Sheriff's Crime Lab as a "Criminalist" forensic alcohol and narcotics analyst and expert witness.
Swimming Career
Janet and her husband David followed the example of their three swimming daughters and began masters swimming in 1972, competing in pool meets and open water swims. Janet also became a stalwart international outrigger canoe paddler for the Hanohano and San Diego clubs from age 50 – 58 between 1985 and 1993. In 1999, Hill served as the pace swimmer for Carol Sing.
Lamott was the then-oldest (at 61 years) known woman to swim from one Hawaiian island to another (Maui Channel) on 27 August 1997. Her time was 6 hours 20 minutes when she swam together with Kaeti Bailie and 61-year-old Bob West.
She also set the National record for women 60-64 for the 10-mile Huntington Beach to Seal Beach, California swim. She was on relay teams for Maui Channel and Catalina Channel crossings, the latest a 6-woman, all-in-their 70's relay of the Catalina Channel, 2012 (Wild Old Women). In her 60's and 70's, she spent every day year-round swimming at the La Jolla Cove, usually more than one mile and often in mid-50 degree water temperatures.
