NEW YORK — The 64-year-old woman who swam from Cuba to Florida is attempting to swim a marathon in midtown Manhattan to benefit victims of Superstorm Sandy.

Diana Nyad started her 48-hour swim Tuesday morning in a 40-yard pool set up in Herald Square. Her aim is to raise money for people still struggling a year after Sandy.

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Long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad, who recently completed a record-setting swim from Cuba to Florida, completes a lap during a continuous 48-hour marathon swim event in New York’s Herald Square Tuesday called “Swim for Relief,” which aims to raise funds and awareness for Superstorm Sandy recovery efforts.
Long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad, who recently completed a record-setting swim from Cuba to Florida, completes a lap during a continuous 48-hour marathon swim event in New York’s Herald Square Tuesday called “Swim for Relief,” which aims to raise funds and awareness for Superstorm Sandy recovery efforts. The Associated Press

Last month, the native New Yorker became the first person confirmed to have swum from Havana, Cuba, to Key West, Fla., without a shark cage.

She told The Associated Press on Monday that one of her swimming companions in Manhattan will be a dog named Roscoe that survived Sandy’s floodwaters.

Nyad says she may break otherwise strict athletic rules by hugging some of the humans joining her in the two-lane pool.

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