Sarah went on to swim 104 miles in 67 hours, last year. Amazing what is possible![/quote]
And so WHY did you not start an ST thread on this last year??? Very irresponsible behavior on your part...:):)

---

"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

Check out post #2;

https://forum.slowtwitch.com/...ng%20record#p6387971

I did read something lately that chlorine poisoning leads to memory loss..(-;

OK, well this is indeed embarrassing, since i posted 6 or 7 times in that thread but, for some reason, the 104-mi swim did come up in my brain, nut rather the 80 mi one. It's tough to remember all the various records. :)

---

"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

And so WHY did you not start an ST thread on this last year??? Very irresponsible behavior on your part...:):)[/quote]
Dude, it was exhausting just watching her on track.rs for 67 hours, let alone keeping up with ST at the same time!

This is not a WR attempt. The primary goal for him is to raise as much money as possible in the battle against cancer. To get enough attention he choose the 11 Cities Tour, which already pointed out by Livio is a legendary and epic skating event, espacially for the frysian part of the Netherlands.
From that point of view he ‘s very succesfull.

Dude, it was exhausting just watching her on track.rs for 67 hours, let alone keeping up with ST at the same time![/quote]
Hmmm, well, i can see how tracking her for 67 hrs would be pretty tiring, so i guess we can give you a pass. :)

---

"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

OK, it just seems to me that, if you're going to kill yourself trying to swim 200 km, or about 125 miles which would be a WR if done "unassisted", why not go for the WR while you're at it??? But perhaps the water temps are just too cold do it sans wetsuit???

---

"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

No, I don’t agree. By not wearing a wetsuit he would have far less chance to finish this endeavour because of hypothermia. Besides, I don’t think he is interested in a WR.
Watertemperatures are 20-21 C, so to OW regulations probably not wetsuit legal I guess.

But I do understand your point though :-)

Even with 21 degrees he would not survive without a wetsuit, see hypothermia tables. And again he is not in for a WR but to raise money and awareness for cancer.

Maarten stopped his race around 13.00 Ams time after approx 163km / 55 hours. He is ill and according to his doctor salt level in his body is not good. He is brought into hospital.

Ill, but doesn't seem very serious. But he quit on advice from his doctors. Raised about 800,000 euro so far. I was following the live stream every now and then this weekend. The support along the course was amazing.

Maarten has also been to Kona and folks had a chance to race him to the coffee boat

What do you feet look like when swimming for 55 hours?

Here is the thing about ultra swimming, it has two distinct categories. The way it worked historically is that when someone did something for the first time, however they did it was the standard and you could choose to beat that time with that standard, or even do it with more strictness. Over time it was getting very disjointed and there was no way to really say there was a world record, or worlds best, or even course record. People would use fins, do stage races, then speed suits, wetsuits, etc.

So ultra swimming adopted a set of guidelines so that swims could be compared. What this guy tried to do was in the old school style, doing something completely different for the first time, so that would have been the standard once he completed it as he laid out his guidelines. He unfortunately did not make it, so goes to show how hard/impossible it would have been using OW swim standards.

I think it is entirely ok for these types of swims, they are still enormously difficult, and do set new standards in their own way. But like Nyad's unorthodox crossing of the Cuban channel, it would have just been one of those feats of strength and stamina that would hold its own category all alone...

This is what is great about a guy like this, we know he is the best long distance swimmer in the world today, so when he attempts something unorthodox like this and fails, doesnt matter how he attempted it, we know it must have been dam hard. Wetsuits and all, we know we could not approach it, and no one else either...

Well, i guess if you've already won an Oly gold and a WC, a WR does not mean that much. Further, as monty commented, if he had made the the whole 200 km, it would've been a "world's best" in the wetsuit category. In any case, he made through 163 K (about 101 mi) in 55 hrs which, wettie or no, is just phenomenal, not to mention raising 2,500,000 euros so far for anti-cancer efforts.

---

"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

Amount 2;5 mio euro, which is uncredible.

OK, thanks, i updated my post above.

---

"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

Amazing effort... 100 miles is long in a car let alone on your arms !

These canals aren't that big and the segments are separate (why he needed a dolphin hoist) so probably no current right?

Can the body core temperature pill be applied for triathlon research? when Lance was training in hawaii for his first ironman he was rumoured to do some core temperature research

I see what you did there.... chuckle chuckle.

He's at it again this year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSw2Ka7bxuI

Looks like he will make it this time

There's a pretty significant wind and due to the open terrain there is some current at the surface, but not a very big deal for him atleast. Also notice how on some headwind sections he swims closer to the black boat in front of him. Drove there to see him last year, and did so to yesterday. Great atmosphere to be in, in what is a pretty surreal event! Almost done now, estimates are 7PM CET.
https://twitter.com/.../1143116876102479874
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D9z0aIyXsAAG7bn.jpg

Thats pretty far!

Cant imagine how gutted he must've been to be stopped last year by water quality, glad it looks as good as completed now