Irene van der Laan Talks About Professional Marathon Swimming On WOWSA Live
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Irene van der Laan took a trip down memory lane covering various aspects and achievements during her prolific career on today’s WOWSA Live interview.
The International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame and International Swimming Hall of Fame dual inductee spoke with International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame chairperson Ned Denison about:
* starting her distance career at the age of 16 with two 16 km races in two weeks in a row, finishing in the exact same time of 4 hours 18 minutes
* swimming Ijsselmeer Zwemmarathon and the Faros Maratón at the age of 17. Note: she also competed in the Faros Maratón in 2019 at the age of 59
* wanting to swim long distances so she started to race professional marathon swimming circuit
* enjoying the two-way 64 km Traversée internationale du lac St-Jean racing against Claudio Plit and Philip Rush
* being escorted by her father, a quiet man who cannot swim
* completing the fastest one-way time across the English Channel in 1982 to win a Rolex watch
* setting the world record for a two-way English Channel crossing in 1983 to win another Rolex watch
* enjoying swimming in the dark and racing against Monique Wildschut and Shelley Taylor-Smith
* setting an age group world record in the Ice Mile in 27 minutes 41 seconds in 4.1°C water in 2017
* designing event awards based on her artistic talents and expanding her skills into glass fusion (see below)
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