Local man preparing for swim across Lake Ontario for charity

Jason Kloss is in the final stages of training for a marathon swim this upcoming weekend — Kloss is preparing to swim from one side of Lake Ontario to the other all in the name of charity.

Born and raised in London, Kloss now lives in Paris, Ont., and is raising money for the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, as well as dementia and Alzheimer’s research.

Kloss said he’s lost family and friends to those diseases, as well as suicide.

On Friday, he will enter the waters near Niagara-on-the-Lake and said he won’t come out until he reaches Toronto on Saturday — it’s a 50-kilometre swim he estimated will last about 20 hours.

“Not allowed to touch boats, not allowed to get out of the water until I hit the other side,” he explained. “So to feed, I tread water. I have a crew that will hand me food on a stick and I drink and I eat while treading water, and then start swimming again.”

This is the second Great Lakes swim Kloss will attempt.

He completed a 60-kilometre swim across Lake Huron 12 years ago.

So far, Kloss has raised more than $40,000 of his $50,000 goal.

If you’d like to contribute, you can visit his website.