Courtesy of WOWSA, Key West, Florida.
Bill “Ciastko” Welzien completed his Century Swim around Key West in May, but he has continued his unprecedented number of solo swims around the 20.1 km island in southern Florida.
His 103rd circumnavigation swim around Key West was escorted by Douglas Weeks [shown on left] in the 89°F (31.6°F) water in 6 hours 36 minutes on July 13th.
The 68-year-old has swum all his life, but it was in 1991 when he started to complete 20.1 km circumnavigation swims around Key West. Not only has he served as the race organizer of the Swim Around Key West since 2003 where he is responsible for hundreds of people doing the warm-water swim, but he also completed the longest Century Swim in history on May 19th.
Over his career, he completed 105 documented solo circumnavigations around Key West, averaging 6 hours 15 minutes over the course.
Welzien shown above after his 105th swim around Key West with kayaker Jane Welzien (in 7 hours 8 minutes) on September 25th.
Welzien’s Century Swim was nominated for the 2018 World Open Water Swimming Performance of the Year along with the following nominees:
1. Catalina Channel Crossing (USA) by Hank Wise
2. Century Swim around Key West (USA) by Bill Welzien
3. Great British Swim (UK) by Ross Edgley
4. HK360Swim Around Hong Kong Island (Hong Kong) by Simon Holliday
5. Ice Kilometer (Netherlands) by Sven Elfferich
6. Double Ice Mile (Germany) by Hamza Bakircioglu
7. Kangsha River Swim (Bangladesh) by Kshitindra Chandra Baisya
8. Lake Zürich Two-Way Crossing (Switzerland) by Katrin Walter
9. Santa Barbara Channel Crossing (USA) by Jim McConica
10. Sfax to Djerba Marathon Swim (Tunisia) by Nejib Belhedi
11. Traversée Internationale du lac St-Jean (Canada) by Edoardo Stochino
12. Travessia do Leme ao Pontal (Brazil) by Glauco Luise de Oliveira Rangel
13. Triple Country Swim (Italy-Monaco-France) by Carina Bruwer
14. Tsugaru Channel Tandem Crossing (Japan) by Nora Toledano Cadena and Mariel Hawley Dávila
15. Two-way Santa Cruz Island Crossing (USA) by Ken Mignosa
To register and vote on the WOWSA Awards and the 2018 World Open Water Swimming Performance of the Year, visit here.
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