The Voice of Russia reported that 25 swimmers from Russia and China started on a 1,300 km marathon relay along the Amur River, the world’s ninth longest river that represents the border between the Russian Far East and northeastern China, to the Tatar Strait, a strait in the Pacific Ocean dividing the Russian island of Sakhalin from mainland Asia. They will finish at Sakhailin Island (see chart on right) in an attempt to earn mention in the Guinness Book of World Records.

The participants range between the ages of 16 to 70 and will be swimming daily from 7 am till 9 pm until the expected finish on August 19 in Alexandrovsk-Sakhalinsky.

Pavel Kuznetsov, an English Channel swimmer and Russian representative on the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame board of directors explained, “There are quite a few similar swims in Russia, when people swim as a relay day-by-day with a night’s rest.”

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