Joan Clarke started at the Mississippi River Bridge in Vicksburg and swam all the way to Natchez.

In fact, she kept going past Natchez and into Baton Rouge, with a map on the wall inside the YMCA tracking her every movement. She wasn’t alone either. Twenty-four other participants swam the 75 miles, the length from Vicksburg to Natchez down the river.

But they completed the entire trek in the pool at the YMCA.

Their journey was a part of the inaugural Muddy River Race, a program started by YMCA aquatics director Wayne Scott to jumpstart increased involvement in the center’s pool. Participants raced each other’s times, swimming up to five miles a week at the pool and charting their distance on a large map.

“The focus on the program was to involve more people into our pool,” Scott said. “Of course our pool stays pretty well occupied from 5 a.m. to 8:30 at night, but we were looking for a way to get more lap swimmers into the pool.”

Clarke, who finished second overall, said she enjoyed the competition the race provided. And while it officially ended last week, she still swims in the pool regularly and marks her distance down the snaking Mississippi River map to show how far she’s gone.

“I knew I wanted to do it,” Clarke said. “I felt like I had a really good shot to win because I swim so much.”

Fay Lachney swam in college at LSU and is a part of U.S. Masters Swimming — an organized swimming program for adults. She joined the Muddy River Race to team her love of the water with friendly competition

“It was fun to kind of see that as you went down,” Lachney said. “It was tangible evidence of progress so that you could see that you were moving and accomplishing something. If you weren’t moving enough, you would say, ‘I need to get back in there and swim some more.’”

But it wasn’t just seasoned swimmers who participated in the race. Fred Briuer swam casually in his free time and used the program as a way to enhance his endurance in the pool. Completing the race took 2,700 laps, which was something Briuer never thought his body was capable of doing before getting started.

“I swam regularly, but I didn’t swim a lot. In October, I decided maybe I can increase this,” he said. “Maybe it’s possible to do. I didn’t really think it was. It’s sort of addictive.”

Most of the swimmers finished up their laps Friday, but a couple are still swimming and marking their distance despite the competition being over.

“What was great about the program was we had people like Fay who were competitive swimmers and swam in national programs like the Masters Program,” Scott said. “Where (others) have got into the race and really built their endurance up to become where they really enjoy getting in there and swimming.”