Many great open water swimmers will be vying for the US$10,000 first prize at the BCT Gdynia Marathon in Poland, the 19.5 km marathon swim in Poland.
Won by Petar Stoychev and Christine Jennings in 2012, the field is even better this year. One of the darkhorses according to Tomasz Pąchalski is Jose Luis Larrosa Chorro of Spain. The former water polo player has crossed across the Strait of Gibraltar (3 hours 12) and participated in a record-setting two-way relay record with his Spanish teammates.
And he has plenty of other marathon swimming experience in the 20+ kilometer range that will come quite handy in the 18 degree C sea.
Among his many swims and shorter races, he has completed a 21 km marathon swim from Tabarca Island to Alicante in 5 hours 16 minutes, a 48 km relay team from Tabarca Island to Benidorm Island in 11 hours 1 minute, and done a cumulative total of 22,200 meters over a 6-hour period in a charity pool swimming effort.
He has also completed the 26.4 km International Self-Transcendence Marathon-Schwimmen in 7 hours 28 minutes, the 27 km Ultramarathon Swim Ebro River in 6 hours, the 23 km Mar Menor Crossing in 5 hours 35 minutes, the 21 km International Marathon Swim Tabarca-Alicante in 5 hours 50 minutes, and the 30 km International Marathon Swim Messianakos Gulf Kalamata-Stoupa on 1 September 2012 in 7 hours 40 minutes.
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