Merrill Cassell had a superlative record of accomplishment in Sri Lanka in swimming competing regularly in the open 2-mile and 6-mile seas swims in the early 60s. Using this talent, he together with Boris Kazimiroff from the national council of YMCA’s, Geneva, started the first Learn-to-Swim movement in Sri Lanka training swimmers to be instructors and organizing Learn to Swim Campaigns in various parts of the country. Because of his efforts, more than 10,000 children in poorer parts of the country learned to swim in rivers and the open sea in the 60s. Within a few years, village kids from remote parts of the country started to win the open 2-mile sea swim, which in previous years were dominated by richer youngsters from Colombo who had access to swimming pools.
After arriving to the USA in 1981 Merrill took up running for sport and fitness and soon started running marathons in New York and Pennsylvania completing over 20 full marathons and over 100 half-marathons during 1985 and 1995. From 1996, Merrill started bicycling and has since completed a number of 100 and 75-mile bike rides raising funds for charitable causes. He is also working hard with his local town to promote bicycling for fitness and commuting and to expand bicycle paths in the county. His article on Integrating Bicycling with Public Transportation appeared in the Journal News of Westchester in May 2008 and in the same month Merrill also hosted a radio show at WVOX in New Rochelle with David Yarnold, Executive Director of the Defense Fund on environmental issues. The AAA New York magazine of August 2008 has published his letter on Bicycle Insights to promote commute bicycling in the USA for energy conservation due to high fuel prices. These days Merrill rides 150-200 miles a week for fitness and commuting and swims 2-3 miles per week.
Since retiring as Budget Director of UNICEF in 1999, Merrill has published a number of articles on social and economic issues in leading magazines in the UK and other sources in the UN and the USA. Just flagging his name on Google will return hundreds of references to his published work referenced by much of the academia.
Sri Lanka and the Sri Lanka Association is proud of the achievements of Merrill Cassell.
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