Marathon Swimming

Marathon swimming, or ultra-long-distance swimming, is a class of open water swimming. Unlike the use of the term for foot-races where the distance is well-defined, the distance of a marathon swim varies from event to event. Tides, surface currents and wind-chop are major determinants of finish-times. For a given course, these factors can vary dramatically from day to day, making any attempt to draw conclusions about athletic ability by comparing finish times from performances undertaken on different days meaningless.

One of the earliest marathon swims was accomplished in 1875 by Captain Matthew Webb, when he became the first person to swim across the English Channel. Similarly, perhaps the most famous marathon swim of all-time was accomplished in 1926 by Gertrude Ederle, when she became, at 19 years of age, the first woman to swim across the English Channel. In doing so, she demolished the existing world record for the crossing, by employing the crawl stroke technique.

World marathon swimming records can be set by being the first to swim a specific distance in a specific course in a specific body of water or the fastest or the oldest or the most prolific (i.e., the most number of times in a specific location). World records are authenticated by independent observers and are defined by distance, gender, age, location and time. Distance is separated into world marathon swimming records (at least 10 kilometers) or world open water swimming records (under 10 kilometers).

The Half Century Club is a list of marathon swimmers over the age of 50 years who have successfully swum across major channels around the world. The Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming includes three famous marathon swims around the world: (1) 21 miles (33.7K) across the English Channel between England and France, (2) 21 miles (33.7K) across the Catalina Channel in Southern California, USA, and (3) 28.5 miles (45.8K) around the Manhattan Island in New York, USA.

The Oceans Seven is a collection of seven channel swims: (1) Irish Channel between Ireland and Scotland, (2) Cook Strait between the North and South Islands of New Zealand, (3) Molokai Channel between Oahu and Molokai Islands in Hawaii, (4) English Channel between England and France, (5) Catalina Channel between Santa Catalina Island and Southern California, (6) Tsugaru Channel between the islands of Honshu and Hokkaido in Japan, and (7) Strait of Gibraltar between Europe and Africa. Irish swimmer Steve Redmond became the first person to complete the Oceans Seven when he swam the Tsugaru Strait on May 15th 2012, less than 3 years after beginning.