A two-time cancer survivor in his 60s is preparing for a second attempt to swim across Lake Winnipeg this summer, hoping to raise thousands more for cancer care.

Jonny Fenton lives just south of Calgary, with his wife. Having grown up in Winnipeg, Man., as well as battling his first round of cancer here, Fenton decided to give back to the community in a big way.

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During the summer of 2025, Fenton decided to attempt swimming across Lake Winnipeg, from Grand Beach to Gimli, to help raise funds for cancer research. While he didn’t make it all the way across, he did end up raising over $40,000 that went to help research in Manitoba and Alberta. This August, Fenton is attempting to make it all the way across. 

“This year, I’ll do less gabbing and dilly-dallying,” says Fenton. “I was doing all these Facebook Live things, which I had never done before. I’d swim for half an hour and stop for a break.  I should have just been focusing more on the swim.”

Jonny’s Big Swim 2.0

Since last August, Fenton has swum 200,000 metres in preparation for this year’s event. This year, Fenton is hoping to make the swim on Aug. 15, 2026. 

“It’s 26 km if you draw straight on a Google map. It’s probably quite a bit more than that because we were being pushed by the current. There’s a little point just south of Gimli called Willow Point, and I might shoot for that.”

The same crew Fenton had last year will join him again on the water. This includes a friend from high school with his pontoon boat and Fenton’s niece. 

Different method of fundraising this year 

This year, Fenton decided to ask people to donate a dollar per kilometre that he swims. This will hopefully give him the extra motivation when he’s tired from swimming. 

“Right now, I’m at $317/km. When I make it across, not if, that’ll be $8,248. I would love to get that number higher, to $500 or even $1000/km, because if I’m tired, then I can say, ‘One more kilometre, that’s $1,000. What a motivation!”

Anyone interested in pledging money toward Jonny’s Big Swim this year can find the info on his website. The money will be donated after the event and go directly to either CancerCare Manitoba or the Health Science Foundation. 

“I’m hoping for calm waters and maybe an algae-free day. I’m looking forward to coming back to Winnipeg.”