After finally emerging from the Atlantic Ocean near the 16th Street beach in Barnegat Light, some 58 minutes after entering the water at the beach on 30th Street, Mariette Ackerman wearily trudged through the surf to give her friend and coach Jeff Lang a hug. Then they casually made their way toward the finish-line chute amid the cheers of a couple dozen spectators. Ackerman was the last one to complete the eighth annual Barnegat Light Beach Patrol Ocean Mile Swim, but it just didn’t matter.
“I knew I was going to be the last one,” said the 66-year-old from Barnegat Light. “But I wasn’t going to give up.
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