AUSTRALIAN ultra-marathon swimmer 29 year old CHLOË McCARDEL is expected to commence her world record breaking 127km open water swim in the Bahamas within the next few hours. Taking more than 40 hours to complete, the swim will start from the southern tip of the island of Eleuthera and finish at Nassau. If successful, Chloë will have completed the longest open-water solo, continuous, unassisted marathon swim in history.
“The conditions are just about perfect,“ Chloë McCardel said, “but the weather could become unsettled in the coming week, so it’s a great time to make a start. This is not a race, so the good conditions over the next few days means that I can pace myself, maintain a good rhythm and know that there is clear water is ahead of me for the next 127 kilometres or so.”
Chloë is scheduled to begin her swim from Lighthouse Beach on the southern tip of Eleuthera on Monday at 7.30am local time (Monday 10.30pm Sydney time) and will finish on Montague Beach at Nassau. Her progress will be tracked by GPS which can be followed via her website: www.chloemccardel.com.
It’s expected she will finish sometime between 11pm (local time) Tuesday night and 3am Wednesday morning (between Wednesday 2pm-6pm Sydney time).
Local residents are invited to join Chloë at the finish line, but Chloë must not be touched or physically assisted by anyone until Chloë’s team verify the official distance and finish location. Chloë will swim under internationally respected MSF marathon swimming rules meaning she cannot touch her support boat, and can wear only bathers, goggles and a swim cap.
Unlike the cold water swimming that Chloë experienced when undertaking any of her 7 crossings of the English Channel, the warmer waters of the Caribbean will diminish the risk of hypothermia, but Chloë will be exposed to heat stress, including dehydration, sharks, possible stinging jelly fish and sunburn.
Her previous attempt to swim from Cuba to the US in 2013 almost ended in tragedy, with Chloë being stung by poisonous, potentially deadly, jelly fish 11 hours into the swim. Suffering severe envenomation from multiple stings to her body and throat, Chloë had no choice but to end that attempt prematurely.
Previously, Chloë set a record, swimming 60 laps across Bondi Beach, a total distance of 48 kilometres, doing so in 11 hours 42 seconds without fins, wetsuit or shark cage on 24 April 2011. More recently, she set the record for the longest swim in a swim-spa, 16 hours, in Melbourne. She has also completed two non-stop double crossings of the English Channel.
The public is welcome to join-in and follow her progress via updates on Chloë’s Twitter, Facebook and Blog pages.
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Chloë team is accompanied by Channel Seven Australia, her TV media partner for this attempt.
GPS tracker:
PICS for publication:
Start, finish and route images: http://chloemccardel.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2b1f11ca289d01100074ebbd2&id=68560fd2cf&e=eea02dae02
Print resolution images of Chloë:
ABOUT CHLOЁ McCARDEL:
Chloë McCardel is a 29 year old marathon swimmer. In 2010, she won the prestigious 46km Manhattan Island Marathon. Chloë has also completed 7 solo crossings of the English Channel-including two non-stop double crossings.