When Melanie Price left Port Dalhousie Thursday night, she had a long night ahead of her, but she didn’t mind.

The Burlington resident and former Brock University swimmer stepped off the port at midnight to begin a marathon swim to Oakville. Her goal was to raise money for Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, an organization devoted to maintaining the health of the watershed.

Price, 38, swam the 42-kilometre route in 18 hours and nine minutes, reaching Oakville at 6:09 p.m. Friday.

In an interview in Port Dalhousie before the swim, Price said that after completing the marathon, she would “probably cry.

“It’ll be overwhelming. It’ll be overpowering. It’ll be a relief.”

Most marathon swimmers choose Niagara-on-the-Lake as a starting point, possibly because the tide from the Niagara River propels them forward, Price said. She chose Port Dalhousie because it was 42 kilometres from there to Oakville, which was the target distance for her swim.

Her crew of 17 included a sailboat in front of her and a motor boat on her tail, as well as two inflatable Zodiacs carrying Canadian Coast Guard auxiliary. She stopped for nourishment every half-hour, mostly taking in fluids and gels, although she was allowed a banana.

Price, a mother of two who works as an accountant in Hamilton, swam for the Brock Badgers from 1990 to 1995. She is the second former Badger to do a marathon swim this month — Christine Arsenault, of Welland, swam across Lake Ontario earlier this week, completing her swim Tuesday.

Herb De Bray of St. Catharines, a swimming coach who retired from Brock in 2005, coached Arsenault and Price. He also coached graduate Paula Stephanson, who swam all five Great Lakes between 1996 and 2009.

“It’s great to see them do this,” he said. “Swimming gives you that characteristic sport you can do your whole life.”

The main challenges for Price were the cold, the darkness and the concentration required to swim for that long.

She swam alone from midnight to 7 a.m. After that, she had pacers, people who swim alongside her to keep her paced and motivated. Solo Swims Ontario forbids pacers from swimming alongside marathon swimmers at night.

The open water was calm and warm for most of the swim, said Jennifer Fisher, president of the Burlington Masters Swim Club and tracker on Price’s crew.

About two hours before she reached land, the water became colder and rockier and Price “hit a wall.”

“It was a long last two kilometres,” Fisher said. “The wind and the currents were so strong, at one point she was going backward. All the pacers jumped in the water and started yelling and screaming at her and cheering her on.” So far, Price’s journey has raised $2,470.

She chose Lake Ontario Waterkeeper because “I feel that the water in general has given a lot to me and my family,” she said. “It’s been important to me.

“I remember going to the beach in Hamilton when I was growing up and no one went in the water. It was known not to be clean. Lately, people have been going in, and it makes me happy. I want to see more of that.”

To read about Price’s swim, or to donate, visit melaniepriceadventures.blogspot.com