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Local ski patroller to swim, bike and run around Tahoe

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — For many athletes, COVID-19 upended their race schedule this year, but local ski patroller Andi Bertolina didn’t let that stop her.

On Thursday, Sept. 10, Bertolina started her two week journey to swim, bike and run around Lake Tahoe.

Bertolina had signed up for a 50-mile running race in March that was canceled because of the pandemic. Still, Bertolina decided to keep running and ended up running every street in South Lake Tahoe.



She joined a local running group which inspired her to run in new places around the region. That led her to decide to run the 72-mile circumference of the lake.

Bertolina’s father suggested that since she was running the lake, she should also swim around the lake. Bertolina, who has been a life-long swimmer, thought, “why not?”



“I did one triathlon when I was younger and the bike was not my favorite part of it,” Bertolina said. “But once I figured I was going to swim and run around the lake, I thought, ‘might as well throw in the bike there too.’”

Bertolina is considering her bike day as the recovery day since for her biking 72 miles is easier than swimming or running that far.

Starting at Regan Beach, she will be swimming six miles a day for 12 straight days. Her goal is a total of 45 hours of swimming.

On Sept. 22, she will bike the circumference of the lake, with a goal of five and a half hours. Finally, she will complete her challenge on Sept 23. with her run around the lake which she’s hoping will take 18 hours.

The run is the event Bertolina is most worried about.

“It’ll be the longest distance I’ve ever run by far,” Bertolina said. “It’s going to be a long day.”

Bertolina is an EMT and has been a ski patroller at Heavenly for the past few winters. She said her fellow ski patrollers are going to come out and support her along the way.

“A lot of my fellow patrollers and a lot of my friends are going to come out and support me which I think will be really nice and make it more fun,” Bertolina said. “It’ll be really nice to have everyone’s support and make it more of a fun event rather than a hardcore race.”

You can follow Bertolina’s journey on Strava at strava.com/athletes/abertolina and on Instagram and Facebook @andibertolina.


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