In the early morning before the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim while searching for some good vantage points along the course on the Seine, we came across two accomplished marathon swimmers from Costa Rica, Rocio Mora Rodríguez and younger sister Carolina Mora Solano.
The sisters were smiling as usual, even in the early dawn hours.
The two women swim around the world – and were in Paris to enjoy watching the marathon swim on the Seine.
From the English Channel to the Catalina Channel, from the Bristol Channel to around Manhattan Island, from the Cruce Golfo Dulce in Costa Rica to the SCAR Swim in Arizona, from the Swim Around Charleston in South Carolina to Swim Around Key West in Florida, from the Portland Bridge Swim in Oregon to the Tampa Bay Marathon Swim in Florida, from Angel Island in San Francisco Bay to the 8 Bridges Hudson River Swim in New York, the sisters – both Triple Crowners – enjoy challenging themselves.
Two years ago, Rocio became the first Costa Rican swimmer to complete a crossing of the English Channel and achieve the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming. Last year, Carolina became the second Costa Rican swimmer to achieve the feat.
This year, Rocio became the first Costa Rican swimmer to complete a crossing of the 35 km North Channel between Northern Ireland and Scotland.
Rocio will be awarded the Stephen Redmond Award for being the first from a new country across the North Channel at this season’s Irish Long Distance Swimming Association awards. She similarly won the Swimmer From A New Country Award from the Channel Swimming Association for her 11 hour 4 minute crossing of the English Channel in June 2022.
Carolina also joins her in many different marathon swims and channel crossings around the world.
But how do they train for such cold water swims in San Francisco Bay, England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland, while they live year-round in warm Costa Rica in Central America? They drop the water to 10°C in their backyard pool, swimming and adapting for their far-flung adventures:
The 155 solo crossings of the North Irish Channel Honour Roll throughout history are posted here.
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