In golf, there is one feat few accomplish - to shoot your age.
The goal is simple - par is your age where everyone hits from the same tees and there are no handicaps.
To swim your age you must do a swim equal in kilometers to your age. So if you are 20 years old, you can if you do at least a 20K swim.
If you are 30 years old, you can Swim Your Age if you do at least a 30K swim. At 40 years, you must do a 40K swim. Obviously, this aquatic feat gets harder and harder as you get older.
The swim can be done in any body of water: an ocean, lake, reservoir, bay, estuary, sea, channel, canal, river, fjord or lagoon. It must be continuous (feeding stops are allowed) and completed according to the traditional rules of the sport (e.g., no touching boats, kayaks or piers and without a wetsuit) and is measured in kilometers (not miles which is harder).
With the growing number of Half Century Club members, the Swim Your Age achievement is within reach for many.
I am sure there are other appropriate metrics for pool and open water water swimmers, but this is a post entirely related to marathon swimming in open bodies of water. Some of the bars that are currently being used in the marathon swimming community are certifiably difficult:
The Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming (i.e., completion of the English Channel, Catalina Channel and Manhattan Island Marathon Swim)
The Ocean's Seven (i.e., the completion of the English Channel, Catalina Channel, Strait of Gibraltar, Molokai Channel, North (Irish) Channel, Cook Strait and Tsugaru Channel)
The Half Century Club (i.e., completing a major marathon swim once past the age of 50 years)
Two-way and Three-way Channel Crossings (i.e., in many different lakes, seas, channels and oceans around the world)
This Swim Your Age is similarly another difficult metric. It certainly becomes more difficult the older you get, the rougher the water becomes and the colder the conditions.
However, with the growing number of swimmers doing longer and more difficult solo swims, the exploding number of older swimmers doing open water swimming, warming water temperatures in many different waterways, and the more information and technology being made available in the open water swimming world (e.g., GPS, micro weather forecasting, caloric needs during a marathon swim, strategic use of tides and currents), I believe there will be an increase in the number of swimmers who can Swim Their Age.
Swim Your Age is certainly not for everyone - or even for most people. It is a goal for a selected few - very few.
But to give you an example of where the sport of marathon swimming is currently going, a 39-year-old California swimmer, Jamie Patrick, is going to attempt a 240 mile (386K) swim in the Sacramento River on August 18th this year. He will definitely Swim His Age - and he'll achieve it rather early in his estimated 50-60 hour solo swim at that.
Likewise, the annual Manhattan Island Marathon Swim (28.5 miles or 45.8K) always has dozens of people who Swim Their Age every year. This year, 25 out of the 36 swimmers entered in the June 18th swim have the opportunity to Swim Their Age.
There are many other marathon swims around the world - both solo attempts and competitive races - where dozens of people will Swim Their Age.
Yes, I agree it may be defined as insane, but there dozens of people around the world who achieve this goal every year ... and the number of swimmers who are attaining this goal are growing year by year. They have my respect and admiration - not only for their achievement and commitment, but for the countless hours of training, preparation and sacrifice that go behind their achievements.
I am sure there are other appropriate metrics for pool and open water water swimmers, but this is a post entirely related to marathon swimming in open bodies of water. Some of the bars that are currently being used in the marathon swimming community are certifiably difficult:
The Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming (i.e., completion of the English Channel, Catalina Channel and Manhattan Island Marathon Swim)
The Ocean's Seven (i.e., the completion of the English Channel, Catalina Channel, Strait of Gibraltar, Molokai Channel, North (Irish) Channel, Cook Strait and Tsugaru Channel)
The Half Century Club (i.e., completing a major marathon swim once past the age of 50 years)
Two-way and Three-way Channel Crossings (i.e., in many different lakes, seas, channels and oceans around the world)
This Swim Your Age is similarly another difficult metric. It certainly becomes more difficult the older you get, the rougher the water becomes and the colder the conditions.
However, with the growing number of swimmers doing longer and more difficult solo swims, the exploding number of older swimmers doing open water swimming, warming water temperatures in many different waterways, and the more information and technology being made available in the open water swimming world (e.g., GPS, micro weather forecasting, caloric needs during a marathon swim, strategic use of tides and currents), I believe there will be an increase in the number of swimmers who can Swim Their Age.
Swim Your Age is certainly not for everyone - or even for most people. It is a goal for a selected few - very few.
But to give you an example of where the sport of marathon swimming is currently going, a 39-year-old California swimmer, Jamie Patrick, is going to attempt a 240 mile (386K) swim in the Sacramento River on August 18th this year. He will definitely Swim His Age - and he'll achieve it rather early in his estimated 50-60 hour solo swim at that.
Likewise, the annual Manhattan Island Marathon Swim (28.5 miles or 45.8K) always has dozens of people who Swim Their Age every year. This year, 25 out of the 36 swimmers entered in the June 18th swim have the opportunity to Swim Their Age.
There are many other marathon swims around the world - both solo attempts and competitive races - where dozens of people will Swim Their Age.
Yes, I agree it may be defined as insane, but there dozens of people around the world who achieve this goal every year ... and the number of swimmers who are attaining this goal are growing year by year. They have my respect and admiration - not only for their achievement and commitment, but for the countless hours of training, preparation and sacrifice that go behind their achievements.
