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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JULY 21, 2017
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‘HOW DO YOU DIG DEEP?’
JULIE HAVELKA SWIMS THE MOUTH OF THE COLUMBIA RIVER
Photo by Dwight Caswell
Julie Havelka, swimming through the mouth of the Columbia River in this photo, said she likes the challenge of any athletic event.
By DWIGHT CASWELL
For EO Media Group
I
t’s early morning, Monday, July 17,
at Cape Disappointment and the fog
is lifting as Julie Havelka, wearing
a wet suit and bright yellow cap, low-
ers herself from the boat into the water.
Turning her back on the Cape she begins
to swim, strongly and steadily, toward
the south bank of the Columbia River.
Havelka, who lives in Eugene, is a
structural engineer and belly dancer.
So what brought the 42-year-old to the
treacherous waters at the mouth of the
Columbia?
It started when, as an anorectic
16-year-old, she began working out at a
gym. She met a powerlifter, Tod, now her
ex-husband, and became interested in the
sport.
“I like the challenge of any athletic
event,” she said. “I like setting a goal and
working toward it.”
For fi ve years, Havelka traveled
across the country competing as a pro-
fessional powerlifter. Then she turned to
strongman sports for four years, winning
several events at the national level.
She liked that the events were held
outdoors, and fl ipping tires and lifting
logs and stones “had more variability in
the lifting.”
She retired in 2004 because, “in heavy
lifting you only have so many years
before you start getting hurt,” and wrote
a book, “Personal Best: How to Train for
the Sport of Strongman,” which is still in
print.
She chose “Personal Best” for the title
because, after years of competition, she
discovered that she didn’t like competing
against other people.
“It’s about how you become your
best,” she said. “I enjoyed learning that I
could do this stuff, but the journey is the
most important part.”
Havelka found other journeys to take.
Photo by Dwight Caswell
Julie Havelka
She liked ice hockey, so she learned skat-
ing and still plays on a hockey team.
She became a belly dancer, “because I
thought Middle Eastern music was so
beautiful I wanted to do something with
it.”
In 2012 she turned to swimming,
which she hadn’t done for 20 years, so
she took lessons and found, unsurpris-
ingly, that she liked the coaching and
drills — the journey toward becoming as
good as she could be.
Havelka’s brother is an ultramar-
athoner. “I thought that looked inter-
esting,” she said. So in early 2015 she
began running. “I wasn’t sure how run-
ning would go after years of powerlift-
ing,” she said. Six months later she com-
peted in her fi rst triathlon.
But she still didn’t like competing.
What she liked was long distance running
by herself: “It’s very contemplative.”
Photo by Dwight Caswell
See HAVELKA, Page 2C
Julie Havelka arrives at Clatsop Spit after swimming from Cape Disappointment.
Submitted photo
Julie Havelka participates in a keg load event.
Submitted photo
Julie Havelka deadlifts more than 400 pounds.