Swimming the Amazon


This has absolutely nothing to do with politics, blogging against theocracy, or whining about the media.

As a former (never any good) competitive swimmer, and someone who still swims daily, I must pay tribute to Martin Strehl , who has just finished swimming the length of the Amazon river:

At 3,272 miles, its length alone would be enough to challenge even the most ardent swimming enthusiast.

Throw into the mix schools of flesh eating piranhas, bloodsucking toothpick fish, giant anacondas and aggressive bull sharks and few would even consider dipping a little toe.

But Martin Strel is not called "The Fish Man" for nothing. He has just conquered one of nature's most spectacular and inhospitable waterways - the Amazon river.

Fighting delirium, exhaustion, diarrhoea, pirates, a host of razor toothed nasties and very wrinkly feet, the 52-year-old has swum the length of the world's second longest river.

According to the BBC he averaged 52 miles a day. When I first read that, I couldn't believe it, because even at a consistent 20 minute a mile clip, you could only do 72 hours a day without sleeping. However, during the rainy season (now), the current can reach 4.3 mph . If you add even two miles an hour to that you can do about 52 miles in a little under 9 hours. If you're willing to go 12 hours (and this guy sounds crazy enough to do even more than that every day) your own contribution to the speed can be quite negligible.

I imagine that handling the current poses problems of its own, not to mention dealing with the wildlife.

Anyway, congratulations to this crazy man, who explains his success this way:

"As a young boy I was beaten a lot by my parents and schoolmasters," he once revealed. "This no doubt contributed greatly to my ability to ignore pain and endure."
Posted: Sunday - April 08, 2007 at 08:00 PM          

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