Morty Berger, chief tidal strategist for the Manhattan Match Race and Record Attempt, announced the start times.
The race, presented by RCN, will begin at 2:50 pm for the women on September 10th and at 3:10 pm for the men – all to be covered live by SwimNetwork.
If they break the record held by Shelley Taylor Smith, Morty predicts they will finish between 8:30 – 9:00 pm. The records the athletes are shooting for include:
Overall 28.5-mile (45.8K) Course Record: 5:45:25, Shelley Taylor-Smith (Australia) in1995
American Male Record: 5:53:57, Kristian Rutford (Lincoln, Nebraska) in 1992
American Female Record: 5:57:53, Marcia Cleveland (Winnetka, Illinois) in 1996
Bulgarian Record: no Bulgarian citizen has ever attempted a swim around Manhattan
The history of tough marathon swimming battles between American Olympian Mark Warkentin vs. his fierce rival, English Channel record holder, Petar Stoychev are described here. The history of the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim since 1915 is summarized here.
If Petar sets the record for the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim, it may be the first time that one individual has concurrently held two major marathon swimming world record since the renowned Penny Dean concurrently held the English Channel and Catalina Channel records in 1978. Concurrently held world records in the marathon swimming world are extraordinarily infrequent over the past 135 years of marathon swimming history as only Lynne Cox and Greta Andersen are others who come immediately to mind.
Copyright © 2010 by Steven Munatones