Courageous swimmers brave cold waters during first international ecological swim on Lake Baikal

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Mandatory credit: Baikal Great Swim

The first international ecological Baikal Great Swim ended in the village of Taltsy in the Irkutsk region on Tuesday.

The organiser of the event, Andrey Bugay, shared information regarding the swim on his Instagram account.

In 26 hours, athletes from Russia, the USA, France, Morocco, South Africa, and Italy swam about 70 kilometres (43 miles) without using wetsuits. Initially, the participants were expected to cover a distance of 120 kilometres (75 miles).

The international team entered the water at on Monday near the village of Vydrino and swam towards Irkutsk. However, the plans of the athletes were forced to change, as the water temperature in the Angara river during the marathon turned out to be much lower than expected - only about four degrees Celcius.

According to the organisers, the international lineup included some of the world’s strongest open water swimmers. Jamie Monahan, a US-based participant, has set several records recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records during her career. For example, she was the first to complete the so-called ‘Ice Seven,’ a series of swims in cold water without any insulation on all seven continents.

Andrei Bugai the head of the Pribaikaltsy winter swimming and hardening club emphasised that the purpose of the swim is to draw attention to the problem of the ecology of the lake and its coastal territories. A similar event was held last year, when five swimmers from Russia, without wetsuits, covered 55 kilometres (34 miles) along the Vydrino - Listvyanka route under the slogan ‘For Clean Baikal.’

SOT, Translator: “How are you doing?”

SOT, Adrian Sarchet, British swimmer: “I’m doing great, beautiful! Really nice! Some Baltic patches. But we’re pretty good! So, 32:36:16:85 whoever is on the job.”

SOT, Correspondent (Russian): “Is the water warm?”

SOT, Adrian Sarchet (English): “Yes, warm. A few patches were quite cold.”

#Russia #LakeBaikal #Swimming

Video ID: 20210714-036

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