Courtesy of John Batchelder, English Channel.
After waiting through a government-mandated quarantine and his window, John Batchelder finally got to attempt a 33.5 km crossing – swimming only butterfly – of the English Channel. 16 hours 13 minutes (unofficially) after stepping off the English coast, Batchelder landed in France on June 29th to become one of the very few individuals to have crossed the English Channel in a non-freestyle manner.
“He is the world’s foremost butterfly marathon swimming specialist. Bar none,” says Steven Munatones. “With the 32.3 km Catalina Channel (16 hours 14 minutes, 25 km Border Buster (10 hours 22 minutes), 19.4 km Swim Around Charleston while swimming butterfly.
On 24 September 2016, he completed the 40 km Three Rivers Marathon Swim in the Ohio, Allegheny, and Monongahela Rivers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 10 hours 10 minutes 40 seconds, finishing 8th overall while swimming butterfly.
On 11 September 2016, he completed the first all-butterfly swim 25 miles across Lake Memphremagog from Newport, Vermont, USA to Magog, Quebec, Canada in 16 hours 9 minutes at the age of 46. This was at the seventh In Search of Memphré event by New England LMSC US Masters Swimming. This swim is counted as one of the Triple Crown of Lake Monster Swims.
On 19 August 2016, he finished fourth in the 45.9 km 20 Bridges Manhattan Island Swim in New York City in 6 hours 46 minutes 40 seconds at the age of 46 all in the butterfly stroke. This swim is counted as one of the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming.
Between 26-29 2016, he competed in the 2016 S.C.A.R. Swim Challenge in Arizona: Saguaro Lake, 25th overall in 4 hours 2 minutes all butterfly + Canyon Lake, 40th overall in 4 hours 40 minutes all butterfly + Roosevelt Lake, 26th overall in 4 hours 44 minutes (DNF).
On 22 April 2016, he finished seventh in the 6-mile (11.2 km) Swim Around Lido Key, the USMS Marathon Distance Open Water National Championship in freestyle.
On 9 July 2016, he completed the 16 km Portland Bridge Swim in Oregon in 4 hours 59 minutes at the age of 46 all butterfly.
On 16 June 2016, he completed the 46.5-mile (58 km) END WET marathon swim in the Red River of North Dakota swimming butterfly in 14 hours 55 minutes.
In 2016, he completed 42 miles of the 46.5-mile END WET marathon swim in North Dakota swimming butterfly before he was pulled out because of darkness.
On 2 April 2016, he completed the 2016 38.6 km Tampa Bay Marathon Swim in Florida swimming all butterfly in 14 hours 41 minutes. He is the first to complete this event in butterfly. A quote from the Distance Matters website includes, “April 2, 2016 – John Batchelder, 46, from Littleton, Colorado completed a 24 mile endurance test that will be regarded as one of the greatest Butterfly swims of all-time. He was able to finish The 24 Mile Tampa Bay Marathon Swim in 14 hours 41 minutes. He started in darkness, before sunrise and swam the entire length of Florida’s largest estuary doing the most difficult of the 4 competitive swimming strokes. Taking a short break for a drink and food each half hour, he maintained a legal butterfly stroke for the entire day. Even though his arrival at Ben T. Davis Beach was about one hour after sunset, there was an enthusiastic party to greet him as he cleared the water for the official finish.” Video
On 14 June 2015, he completed the 10 km Lake Del Valle Open Water Festival in California in 2 hours 42 minutes 22 seconds at the age of 44 in freestyle.
On 24 August 2015, he completed the 10 km Horsetooth Swim in Colorado in 4 hours 14 minutes 10 seconds all butterfly. Results
He was named one of the World’s 50 Most Adventurous Open Water Men by the World Open Water Swimming Association.
In August 2018, he finished 4rd in the Mountain Swim Series Cliff Backyard Ultra Swim by completing 14 loops of a 1.5 km course (21 km cumulative total) at 2,425 meters in altitude in Wellington Lake in Bailey, Colorado amid the Rocky Mountains.
On 27 April 2019, he had the second fastest cumulative time of 15:10:11.6 in the 2019 SCAR Swim Challenge in Arizona.
On 24 August, he finished 1st overall in the 15.2 km Saguaro Lake stage swim of the 4-day SCAR Swim Challenge in Arizona in 3:17:36.9.
On 25 August, he finished 2nd in the 14.4 km Canyon Lake stage swim of the 4-day SCAR Swim Challenge in Arizona in 3:00:46.2.
On 26 April 2019, he finished 3rd in the 27.3 km stage across Apache Lake on Day 3 of the 4-day S.C.A.R. Swim Challenge in Arizona in 5:56:40.6 at the age of 38.
On 27 April 2019, he finished 4th in the 10 km stage across Roosevelt Lake on Day 4 of the 4-day S.C.A.R. Swim Challenge in Arizona in 2:55:07.9 at the age of 38.
On 8 June 2019, he started all 7 stage swims of the 193 km 8 Bridges Hudson River Swim along the Hudson River in New York with the 29.4 km The Islands swim. He swam butterfly in The Islands finishing 7th in 5 hours 27 minutes 30 seconds at the age of 38.
On 10 June 2019, he finished 3rd in the 24.46 km Stage 3 of the 8 Bridges Hudson River Swim in New York in 4 hours 20 minutes 18 seconds at the age of 38.
On 14 June 2019, he finished 1st in the 31.8 km The Beast Stage 5 of the 8 Bridges Hudson River Swim in New York in 7 hours 55 minutes 29 seconds at the age of 38.
He won the 20 km Mercer Island Marathon Swim in 6 hours 18 seconds to set the male record on 24 May 2019.
He completed a 33.5 km butterfly crossing of the English Channel on 29 June 2021 in 16 hours 13 minutes.
Recordsedit
Copyright © 2008 – 2021 by World Open Water Swimming Association