Van Wisse Arc to Arch

david_barradavid_barra NYCharter Member
edited August 2014 in Cheering Section
So.... John Van Wisse is just about to land in France (if he hasn’t already) completing the second leg of this epic triathlon challenge.
He was the only swimmer out there, and it looked like the conditions were pretty rough, but the clock is ticking, and the transitions are part of the cumulative time. I think he had about 7 hours to get himself ready for the swim after a 15+ hour run.... 85ish miles.

...anything worth doing is worth overdoing.

Comments

  • ZoeSadlerZoeSadler Charter Member
    Hi - (unofficially) he landed the swim in 12h 31m at the Cap.

    The run took him 15 hours 53 minutes which is the fastest run so far on the Arch to Arc challenge.

    No other boats went out today. I wouldn't have wanted to be the observer or crew out there today! Amazing effort today.
  • paulmpaulm Senior Member
    Johnny has done the hard yards training for this event and I have no doubt that he will become the fastest person to complete it. (He did the swim in a wettie so they may split the record category into wettie & non wettie - ) ??
  • MandaiMandai Charter Member
    ...indeed a great run and swim by JvW. Record will be split as a non-wetsuit A2A certainly makes this thing so much harder (esp. on the run).
  • loneswimmerloneswimmer IrelandCharter Member
    John Van Wisse had already done both a solo and double EC crossing and won MIMS 3x times. Mark Bayliss did A2A without a condom in 2012 if I recall when he sets the record. @As David_Barra notes, the success of a record attempt requires management of the time between ending the run and starting the swim. EC record holder Trent Grimsey is attempting A2A next year & I'll be on crew (yahoo!).

    loneswimmer.com

  • paulmpaulm Senior Member
    Donal...Is trent going wettie or bathers ??
  • bruckbruck San FranciscoMember
    edited August 2014
    Can someone educate us about this event? I found this: http://www.enduroman.com

    Do they not have guidelines on equipment? It's a triathlon, so it makes sense wetties are allowed, so why did Bayliss go without?

    Can't help but think JVW could have set a prominent precedent by going without.
  • david_barradavid_barra NYCharter Member
    Don’t know much about it, but from the photos I’ve seen, JVW is looking pretty slim these days. He also swam on a pretty rough day.... don’t know if either of those factored into the decision to go wetsuit; or if that was always the plan.

    ...anything worth doing is worth overdoing.

  • ZoeSadlerZoeSadler Charter Member
    bruck wrote:
    Can someone educate us about this event? I found this: http://www.enduroman.com

    Do they not have guidelines on equipment? It's a triathlon, so it makes sense wetties are allowed, so why did Bayliss go without?

    Can't help but think JVW could have set a prominent precedent by going without.

    Both Mark Bayliss and Rachel Hessom wanted to have ratified Channel solo swims at the same time as the Arch to Arch. Mark was the first person to complete the A2A without a wetsuit and he set the record at the same time, which was amazing.

    I went to a very interesting talk by Mark Bayliss in 2012 at the H2Open Show when he was planning his A2A. One of the things he talked about was how carefully he had to plan his weight for it - there was a trade off between putting on weight to keep warm in the Channel, but not putting too much on as it would slow him down in the run.

    I hope that Enduroman decide to keep 2 records going forwards - wetsuit and non-wetsuit as John and Mark's challenges were very different.
  • I noticed from photographs that JVW is slimmer than in his channel swimming photos. He looked from his posts on FB too to be (rightly so) doing a lot of endurance running training, really tricky keeping weight on with this kind of running and if you want a fast run (15 hours is phenomenal) he'd have to be on the lighter side. Be interesting to see the comparison with Trent when he goes, as he doesn't have the cycle and run background that JVW has.
  • david_barradavid_barra NYCharter Member
    Clearly one must consider the overall scope and not dwell too heavily on one single leg of this thing.

    ...anything worth doing is worth overdoing.

  • david_barradavid_barra NYCharter Member
    edited August 2014
    Yes... but this thread is not about marathon swimming, but about the exploits of someone that happens to be a pretty badass marathon swimmer.

    JVW broke Australian record in 1994 solo crossing of the English channel (8 hours 17min)
    Double crossing of the English channel in 2010 (19 hours 55min) fastest crossing for the year for first way (9hours 21min)

    I think it would be prudent to assume that his effort during the swim leg of A2A was measured, and part of a strategy for his overall time, and trying to compare his swim to Mark Bayless’ without factoring in the run + rest time in Dover is irrelevant and confuses this triathlon event with marathon swimming.

    Also note.... conditions were such that there were no other swimmers out during JVW’s swim.

    ...anything worth doing is worth overdoing.

  • MandaiMandai Charter Member
    It's indeed difficult if not pointless to compare A2A times, esp. with the rest times in between. Just for the fun of it:

    John Van Wisse vs Mark Bayliss
    run split 15:53 vs 26:20
    wait in Dover 08:25 vs 13:59
    swim split 12:31 vs 11:48
    wait in Calais 10:31 vs 3:22
    bike split 14:07 18:09
    total time 61:27 vs 73:39
    Total rest/wait time: 18:56 vs 17:09

    JvW had solid times on all legs. MB clearly paid for his bioprene on the run, but kudos for doing so!
    Am a bit puzzled why JvW gave so much away with the long wait times, esp. in Calais. So, there is clearly a lot of room to lower the "record" by a fair bit.
    Looking forward to Trent having a shot at it next year.
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