One of the world’s longest swimming race completed it’s 72nd edition this past Sunday. The race is held in a river called Bhagirathi in India. Bangladesh claimed the top two spots of 81 km distance with Ashiqur Rahman and Faisal Ahmed finishing in 11:04:24 and 11:24:40, respectively. Rahman is a member of the Bangladesh Army, while Ahmed is a member of their Navy. The third place finish went to Indian Bishwanath Adhikari. There were a total of twelve athletes who competed in the race.
This race, which has been held every September since 1943, is the longest amateur open water race and consists of two separate distances: 81km and 19km. Cash prizes go to the top three finishes in both distances and range from $194-970 U.S. Dollars.
Although it may be argued that the Bhagirathi competitors have an advantage because they are aided by river currents, their race is still over twice as long as the longest open water race at World’s. This year, the fastest finish time in the longest distance -25km- for the men was 4:53:10.
No matter how you twist it, 11 hours is a very long time to be swimming (and that was just the winners…)!