By NATALIE HRUBOS For The Press, (609) 272-7209

When the Around the Island Marathon Swim participants take off from Gardner's Basin, Patti Giegerich sets out on a race of her own.

The Egg Harbor Township resident and her two daughters, Allison, 13, and Emily, 9, jump into their car and head to Longport. Nothing, not even the speed limit, can stop them from following the 25 swimmers on their journey through the ocean and back bays of Atlantic City, Ventnor, Margate and Longport.

Giegerich is one of many locals who have made a sport out of following the event, known locally as the Around the Island Swim. Many, like Jim Tuohy of Ventnor, have strategies they follow every year, involving boats, cars, bicycles and anything else they can use to get around the island.

This year, Giegerich began island-hopping in her car Saturday morning.

"My husband and I used to ride our bicycles around," Giegerich said, talking about Mike Giegerich, the race director. "That's the best way because you can go everywhere."

Sitting on a rock at the tip of Longport, Roberta and Fred Soper of Absecon wait for the swimmers to reach the jetties.

"They're early this year. This, they say, might be the record time," Fred says, peering through a pair of binoculars. After the swimmers pass, the Sopers will head to the Margate bridge, then swing over to the back bay area in Ventnor and then over to Venice Park before meeting up with the swimmers back at Gardner's Basin.

Not five minutes after the first few swimmers pass the jetty, Giegerich is on the way to Ventnor herself.

"We want to stay ahead of the pack," Giegerich says. "Now, it's like a race." She stops briefly at a dock on Amherst Avenue in Margate.

"That must be the lead of the pack. It looks like Stephane Gomez is still in the lead. He's from France," Giegerich says, her eyes glued to the water as she strains her neck to get a better view. Two minutes later: "Ready to go to Uncle Tom's? OK, we're on the move," she says, walking briskly back to her car. "I hope you have your roller blades on."

But Uncle Tom Giegerich has no sense of urgency. After the swimmers pass his bayfront property, he wants Patti to have a cup of coffee and take a tour of his newly renovated home.

"They're probably in Ventnor by now. We've got to go," Giegerich says.

When Uncle Tom insists she look at the upstairs, Giegerich gets nervous.

"Let's go," she calls to her daughters from the bottom of the stairs. "I'm serious. I have to catch those swimmers," she tells Uncle Tom, hurrying out the front door.

Time is of the essence. She pulls up at a dock and hustles to the water, leaving her car door open and her children in the car still unbuckling their seat belts. She wants to see how much time she has before the swimmers hit the Dorset Avenue Bridge.

Thirty seconds later, she hops off the dock and back in her car.

"But they didn't go by yet," her daughter protests.

"I just wanted to see how close they were," Giegerich explains. "If we waited for them to go by, it would be a mad rush to get over there."

Fortunately, Giegerich arrives at "Big Larry" Connell's house party 45 minutes early, so she has time to relax. Guests start filling the deck, which hangs over the bay about a block away from the Dorset Avenue Bridge.

"They're at the Margate bridge," Giegerich says, putting down her cell phone. "They're probably about a half-hour, 45 minutes away, so we don't have a lot of time," she says as Connell tapes the swimmers' pictures to a table outside.

Jill Higbee looks down at the swimmers from the Dorset Avenue Bridge. She and her family came straight from the Longport library and will head to the finish line after lunch.

"It's very thrilling to see the elite swimmers of the world come together in our back yard, and I think it's unifying to see everybody come together in our little Atlantic County," Higbee says, standing next to her husband, Bill, and their three children.

Back at Connell's, the partiers cheer, clap and blare the "Rocky" theme song as each swimmer passes. As guests settle in, Giegerich prepares to make her exit.

"I'm definitely going to watch them finish," Giegerich says. But, she adds, "We'll probably stop a few places along the way."

To e-mail Natalie Hrubos at The Press:

NHrubos@pressofac.com