Maarten van der Weijden swimming 200km Elfstedentocht as we speak
Argent
UtrechtMember
Hello Marathon swimmers,
Definitely not under English Channel rules, but still impressive. Former Olympian Maarten van der Weijden is swimming the 'Elfstedentocht'. Normally an iceskating race in the north of the Netherlands (which has not been held since 1997 due to too warm winters). Maarten van der Weijden is swimming the 200 kilometer course in order to collect funds for cancer research. It is receiving enormous attention here in the Netherlands.
You can see Maarten swimming through the following link.
Not sure if that works since its Dutch national tv broadcasting it. Here is the website: https://www.11stedenzwemtocht.nl/live/
Maarten is expected to arrive Monday evening at the finish.
Cheers!
Comments
Congratulations. I think there are many videos on FBK covering this and the effort has a lot of public support, from what I have seen on the route videos.
He just had to give up after 163 km (55 hrs)
https://nos.nl/artikel/2246846-zieke-van-der-weijden-moet-elfstedenzwemtocht-staken-hij-is-op.html
An unbelievable achievement still
Milko
https://db.marathonswimmers.org/p/milko-van-gool/
Most impressive all the same!
Maarten is making a second attempt of the Elfstedentocht course. Live video streaming here:
Interesting article with some MSF references & quotes from @MvG (open in Chrome for auto-translation):
https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2019/06/21/drie-dagen-lang-door-fries-water-arm-voor-arm-a3964624
Very beautiful scenery. Seems like a great place to swim. And there are people on the banks cheering the whole way. But it would be nice if the cameraman actually put Martin in the frame from time to time.
"Lights go out and I can't be saved
Tides that I tried to swim against
Have brought be down upon my knees
Oh I beg, I beg and plead..."
oops, my bad. you can manipulate the camera angle. how very cool.
"Lights go out and I can't be saved
Tides that I tried to swim against
Have brought be down upon my knees
Oh I beg, I beg and plead..."