Twin brothers from Wasaga Beach are taking synchronized swimming to another level.
Jake and Josh Burella are planning a side-by-side endurance swim from Wasaga Beach to Collingwood later this month.
That’s 16 kilometres in a straight light and they estimate it will take about eight hours.
If the task sounds daunting, that’s the point. The brothers are doing it for the sake of mental health.
“Everybody experiences the effects of mental health,” said Josh. “The swim encompasses what it means to persevere.
"We calculated it will take about 380,000 strokes. If we just focus on that number, it isn’t going to work," he added. "If you’re too focused on the problem, like a mental illness, you don’t go through the steps and you never reach that goal.
"The swim encompasses all that.”
Neither Josh nor Jake have ever been competitive swimmers, though they have always enjoyed playing sports. They each started swimming regularly last October when they started with 20-minute swims early in the morning.
Josh and Jake can see the Collingwood Terminals building from their home at Beach Area No. 3 and hatched a plan to swim from their house to the terminals building in the summer.
Since then, they’ve been endurance training. They did a 12-km swim in a pool, which took them five hours.
They also train by swimming in the bay in their wet suits, which they will be wearing for the 16-km swim. They will not be wearing flippers or any other gear to help propel them, and Jake said there will be breaks about once every hour so they can consume the calories they will need to make it through the eight-hour swim.
The twins are being supported by their friends and family, including their brother, Lukas Burella, who will be at the finish line on the day of the swim running workout classes and collecting donations.
There will also be a booth by Gibson and Co. and other activities for those who want to participate on the day.
Jake and Josh plan to swim on Aug. 26.
Money collected on the day and through a GoFundMe page will be donated to a charity with a mandate of mental-health wellness.
Jake is at Brock University earning a medical science degree with the end goal of becoming a physiotherapist, while Josh is in school for holistic health.
Their brother, Lukas, is a kinesiology graduate, and together they have created a startup healthcare company called Primitive Patterns.
Currently, Jake and Josh run free workouts at Sunset Point in Saturdays from 9-10 a.m.
Eventually, the Burella brothers hope to open a physical location in Collingwood or The Blue Mountains where they will offer personal training, physio and massage therapy, health coaching, nutrition consultation and mindfulness training.
“No matter how strong you are physically, if you’re not equally or stronger mentally you’ll run into issues,” said Jake. “A lot of people don’t have that mind-body connection.”
“Mindfulness is about getting the mind back to where it should be as human beings,” said Josh. “Your mind should be in a state of being, not worried about the past and the future.
"Stresses in life are normal, but we should take time to allow our mind to come back and be in the moment.”
