Marathon swimming is a class of

open water swimming Open water swimming is a swimming discipline which takes place in outdoor bodies of water such as open oceans, lakes, and rivers. Competitive open water swimming is governed by the International Swimming Federation, World Aquatics (formerly kno ...

defined by long distances, with being the unofficially held minimum distance. Routes are typically geographically based or buoy based. Geographical routes include crossings of channels and lakes, circumnavigations of islands, and stretches of coast lines or rivers. Buoy-routes are mainly found in competition events. Perhaps the most famous route in marathon swimming crosses the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

, first accomplished in 1875 by Captain Matthew Webb in 21h:45m. The first woman to complete the crossing was Gertrude Ederle 14h:39m in 1926 as a 19 year old, thereby setting a new fastest known time by 1h:54m by employing the crawl stroke technique. Finish times for routes are highly dependent on environmental conditions and cultural context. Environmental factors include water temperature, tides, surface currents, and wind-chop. Cultural factors include swim direction, allowed equipment and swimmer assistance. These may be established by route convention (e.g. English Channel), by event organizers, or by personal goals, with Marathon Swimmers Federation rules often used as a foundation. Since environmental and cultural factors can vary dramatically, comparisons of finish times are often debatable. The

Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming The Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming is a marathon swimming challenge consisting of three historically important swims: #The English Channel, between France and England #The Catalina Channel, between Catalina Island and the California mai ...

comprises three marathon swims: (1) across the

, (2) between Catalina Island and the mainland in Southern California, USA, and (3) around

Manhattan Island Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the smallest county by area in the U.S. state of New York. Located almost entire ...

in New York City, USA. The first known completion of triple was in 1987 by Alison Streeter MBE of English Channel fame. The Ocean's seven comprises seven channel swims: (1) North Channel between Ireland and Scotland, (2)

Cook Strait Cook Strait () is a strait that separates the North Island, North and South Islands of New Zealand. The strait connects the Tasman Sea on the northwest with the South Pacific Ocean on the southeast. It is wide at its narrowest point,McLintock, ...

between the North and South Islands of New Zealand, (3) Molokai Channel between Oahu and Molokai Islands in Hawaii, (4)

between England and France, (5) Catalina Channel between Santa Catalina Island and Southern California, (6)

Tsugaru Strait The is a strait between Honshu and Hokkaido in northern Japan connecting the Sea of Japan with the Pacific Ocean. It was named after the western part of Aomori Prefecture. The Seikan Tunnel passes under it at its narrowest point 12.1 miles ...

between the islands of Honshu and Hokkaido in Japan, and (7)

Strait of Gibraltar The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Europe from Africa. The two continents are separated by 7.7 nautical miles (14.2 kilometers, 8.9 miles) at its narrowest point. Fe ...

between Europe and Africa. The first known completion of the septet was in 2012 by Steve Redmond of Ireland. In the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

, the marathon swimming event distance is .

Solo swims

Catalina Channel Santa Catalina Island (; ) often shortened to Catalina Island or Catalina, is a rocky island, part of the Channel Islands (California), Channel Islands, off the coast of Southern California in the Gulf of Santa Catalina. The island covers an ...

( Santa Catalina – mainland) *

North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland) The North Channel (known in Irish language, Irish and Scottish Gaelic as , in Scots language, Scots as the ) is the strait between north-eastern Northern Ireland and south-western Scotland. The Firth of Clyde merges with the channel, between t ...

(formerly known as the Irish Channel) *

Strait of Bonifacio The Strait of Bonifacio (; ; ; ; ; ; ) is the strait between Corsica and Sardinia, named after the Corsican town Bonifacio. It is wide and divides the Tyrrhenian Sea from the western Mediterranean Sea. The strait is notorious among sailors for i ...

* Rottnest Channel Swim (Australia) *

* Swim Miami * Beltquerung * Otranto Strait *

Backstairs Passage The Backstairs Passage is a strait in South Australia lying between Fleurieu Peninsula on the Australian mainland and Dudley Peninsula on the eastern end of Kangaroo Island. The western edge of the passage is a line from Cape Jervis (headland), ...

Lake Tahoe Lake Tahoe (; Washo language, Washo: ''dáʔaw'') is a Fresh water, freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the Western United States, straddling the border between California and Nevada. Lying at above sea level, Lake Tahoe is the largest a ...

Group swims

* Rottnest Channel Swim (Australia) *

FINA World Aquatics Championships The World Aquatics Championships, formerly the FINA World Championships, are the World Championships for six aquatic disciplines: swimming, diving, high diving, open water swimming, artistic swimming, and water polo. The championships are stag ...

FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships The FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships, or more commonly "Open Water Worlds", was a bi-annual FINA (now World Aquatics) championship for open water swimming held in even years from 2000 to 2010, inclusive. Race distances were 5, 10, and 2 ...

Solo swims

Group swims

See also

References

External links