He did a presentation for a small group of us about some of his adventures, which include swimming the entire length of some of the longest rivers in the world (Danube, Mississippi, Yangtze and the Amazon) He has swum in some very dirty waters to raise awareness of the water quality or the need for some more quality in these cases. I feel I share some common interests with the man and was very excited to meet him.
The Big River Man movie makes him come off as a bit crazy and eccentric but meeting him, he came across more 'normal' then I anticipated. He said himself he is in a different mind set when he is doing his swims; and of course movie directors want to drive-up the interest in the movie, so just goes to show you don't believe everything you see in the movies, even documentary style ones... Regardless, the movie is really good and even if you aren't a swimmer, I'd suggest it! And then getting to meet him added another level to what you gain from the movie.
Just so you get more of an idea of Martin's accomplishments, his longest swim, the Amazon River is over 5000 kilometers and was 66 days of swimming (he does stop to sleep, he also wears a wetsuit due to dangers in the water (he showed us his piranha scar on his back)) His longest non-stop swim is 84 hours (how do you even stay awake that long?) when he swam 504k in Danube. Incredible perseverance!
.jpg) |
| Mel & Martin Strel |
A few of us (Rob, Miguel, Bud, Bill and I) even went out for drinks after with him. He is a very personable guy. Funny too.
Check out his site: http://www.strel-swimming.com/
He does swim camps/vacations which look nice too.
.jpg) |
| in the company of some great OW swimmers: Miguel (Lake O), Madhu (EC), Me (Lake O), Martin Strel (Amazon), Rob (Manhattan Island), Bill (Ironman), Bud (10k champ) |
Melanie, thanks for posting our Strel swimming camp link! Hope we see you and your swimmers swimming with us one day.
ReplyDelete