Jaunted

Swimming

Amazon Swimmer "Accepted" and Acceptably Crazy

April 10, 2007 at 2:45 PM | 0 Comments

Remember how we told you about Martin Strel, the insane Slovenian who decided to spend his most recent holiday swimming the entire length of the Amazon River? Well, he's just finished, and he's just alive.

Contrary to our predictions, it wasn't the piranhas, crocodiles or poisonous stingrays that really threatened him. (Martin said the animals "accepted" him.) It was just the sheer lunacy of a 52-year-old man swimming 3272 miles at an average pace of 52 miles per day. Doctors told him to stop (especially when heart problems emerged) but he stubbornly swam on and arrived at the finishing line in Brazil on Saturday.

He was put straight into hospital suffering high blood pressure and dizziness, but has since been released. If you want to copy this kind of adventure trip, there's one advantage if you're keen to lose weight: Martin lost 26 pounds during the swim (and not to piranhas).

[Photo: pakec]

Related Stories:
· Love Those Toothpick Fish [Jaunted]
· Slovenian Completes Amazon Swim [BBC]