Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.

Guillermo Bértola will participate for the sixth time in the 57 km Maratón Acuática Internacional Santa Fe – Coronda in his native Argentina.

The Cordovan has left his mark since his debut in river waters in 2009 – and still trains hard. “My main objective for this year is to qualify for the FINA World Championships in Budapest and try to participate in parallel to the FINA 10K Marathon Swimming World Cup and the FINA Open Water Swimming Grand Prix events. We have been preparing non-stop since last year, without vacations, to start the 2017 in the best way possible.”

The Cordovan will also swim the 10 km La Patagones Viedma. “Viedma is very intense and exhausting because there is not much current [in the venue]. [We face] another type of fatigue, different from races like Santa Fe – Coronda. But we want to do it because we compete in both the FINA World Cup and the FINA Grand Prix circuits. We do not underestimate the race and we know that we will get quite exhausted, but it’s going to be a psychological battle for me and Ceci Biagioli.”

Bértola remembers his former participation in the Santa Fe – Coronda race. “We always like to be part of the Santa Fe – Coronda feast. It means a lot to us and that’s why we work in a group with the same objective. I have good memories from my first Santa Fe – Coronda race where I learned a lot. I was moving up my position until I was in second place, racing with the Italian Simone Ércoli [shown above]. I always remember making the podium in Santa Fe – Coronda that year.

Every time I go to Santa Fe the affection of the people gives me goose bumps. The feeling from the [local] people is amazing.”

Lower photo shows Simone Ercoli of Italy who won last year’s race.

Copyright © 2016 by World Open Water Swimming Association