A marathon swimmer who crossed the Northumberland Strait last year plans to try to double that achievement next summer.

Last July, Kristin Roe completed the fastest crossing of the strait on record, in just over eight hours. In the process, she raised more than $23,000 for AIDS and HIV awareness campaigns, both on P.E.I. and in Africa.

Marathon swimmer Kristin Roe prepares to enter the strait in July 2005.
(CBC)

Now she plans to double the stakes.

"Start on P.E.I., land in New Brunswick, turn around and come back to P.E.I.," Roe said.

"The idea is to swim to really raise awareness for the Make Poverty History campaign, but taking more of a focus on the link between poverty and HIV."

Roe is based in Halifax researching how women around the world are treated when it comes to HIV and AIDS. She will attend the five-day international AIDS conference in Toronto, which begins Aug. 13,  and then will continue her research for four months in South Africa.

Roe said she will still find time to begin training for her double swim across the strait.

"I'll have to find a pool in Cape Town," she said.

"I've promised my mother I won't go out in the ocean swimming in Cape Town because there's a lot of great white sharks. And then I'm done with all the Africa stuff in December, so that will give me enough time to get back into it again at full swing."

As well as work and swimming, Roe has been busy as a motivational speaker, sharing with audiences what it was like to swim across the strait.