This year's "Cross-Continental" Bosphorus Swim
Posted: Sat 06 Apr 2013 5:10 am
Hi guys,
I know a lot of you regularly swim and I also know that a lot of you like to take long weekends in Istanbul, so maybe there's one or two of you out there (in the intersection, so to speak, of those two sets) that might like to participate in the above-mentioned swimming "race" on July 7th. Just think, when you come back home from Istanbul, besides telling friends about the Blue Mosque and the Kapalı Çarşı you can also say you swam the Bosphorus! In any case, here is the link for the English version of the organisers' web-site:
http://www.bosphorus.cc/katilim-bilgisi ... mpetitions
A few comments from me :
- The last day for applications is April 15th, so you haven't got that long to decide.
- This is the 25th year of the race, and even back in the mid 90s, when I did it a couple of times, it was very well organised - The Turkish authorities run such events to promote Istanbul as an Olympic city of the future.
- Because of quite a strong top current flowing from the Black Sea towards the Sea of Marmara the competitors don't swim straight across (which would be less than a kilometre) - instead they swim about 6km, which is not as difficult as it may seem ... because of the said current - Just make sure you're relatively close to the European shore as you approach Kuruçeşme - every year the race organisers have to "rescue" a few individuals who drift past the finish towards the first bridge!
- These days the Bosphorus is much cleaner than it used to be.
- You will, however, need to provide a "swimming ability letter" from a swimming club and attach a copy of the swimming coach’s diploma. If you are keen enough to enter though, that shouldn't be too difficult in obtaining.
Regards,
Ian
I know a lot of you regularly swim and I also know that a lot of you like to take long weekends in Istanbul, so maybe there's one or two of you out there (in the intersection, so to speak, of those two sets) that might like to participate in the above-mentioned swimming "race" on July 7th. Just think, when you come back home from Istanbul, besides telling friends about the Blue Mosque and the Kapalı Çarşı you can also say you swam the Bosphorus! In any case, here is the link for the English version of the organisers' web-site:
http://www.bosphorus.cc/katilim-bilgisi ... mpetitions
A few comments from me :
- The last day for applications is April 15th, so you haven't got that long to decide.
- This is the 25th year of the race, and even back in the mid 90s, when I did it a couple of times, it was very well organised - The Turkish authorities run such events to promote Istanbul as an Olympic city of the future.
- Because of quite a strong top current flowing from the Black Sea towards the Sea of Marmara the competitors don't swim straight across (which would be less than a kilometre) - instead they swim about 6km, which is not as difficult as it may seem ... because of the said current - Just make sure you're relatively close to the European shore as you approach Kuruçeşme - every year the race organisers have to "rescue" a few individuals who drift past the finish towards the first bridge!
- These days the Bosphorus is much cleaner than it used to be.
- You will, however, need to provide a "swimming ability letter" from a swimming club and attach a copy of the swimming coach’s diploma. If you are keen enough to enter though, that shouldn't be too difficult in obtaining.
Regards,
Ian