Adherbal de Oliveira reported on a successful 36 km Travessia do Leme ao Pontal off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from Leme to Pontal, by Spanish marathon swimmer Margarita Llorens Bagur (“Tita Llorens“).

Llorens is among the world’s elite marathon swimmers. She is a Marathon Swimming Mentor, president of the Canal de Menorca Swimming Association, and a member of the 24-hour Club who won the 2017 World Open Water Swimming Performance of the Year for her 37-hour 73 km attempt between Ibiza and Jávea in Spain.

She had to use that experience in Brazil because her swimming window did not offer her any calm days. The forecasts called for a lot of wind against while the direction of the currents were also predominantly unfavorable. She and her team chose February 6th because it presented calmer winds and currents until midday, but which were forecasted to intensify as the hours progressed in the afternoon.

Llorens knew that she needed to swim hard for the first 10 hours to make as much progress as possible before she had to fight against winds of 10 knows and adverse currents of 1 knot. She swam very well for the first 30 km, accompanied by her husband Francisco Antonio and her friend Sofia Moll.

According to forecasts, after 11 hours of swimming, the wind gained intensity against Llorens who continued to swim with tranquility and focus, skillfully skirting Pedra do Pontal until she arrived on the sands of Pontal Beach after 13 hours 47 minutes with a huge smile on her face. At 55 years and 179 days, she became the oldest woman to completed the Travessia.

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