India’s Rohan More on Sunday became the first Asian swimmer and the youngest ever to swim across the Cook Strait between North and South Islands of New Zealand. The teenager from Pune completed the feat in eight hours and 37 minutes.
Starting from the North Island in temperatures of around 19 degrees Celsius, More battled inclement weather and a sudden drop in temperature to complete the task. With this feat, More became the ninth person in the world to complete the Ocean’s Seven marathon.
The Ocean’s Seven consists of seven long-distance open-water swims, which includes the North Channel, the Cook Strait, the Molokai Channel, the English Channel, the Catalina Channel, the Tsugaru Strait and the Strait of Gibraltar. The swimming marathon is widely considered equivalent to the Seven Summits mountaineering challenge.
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PROUD OF YOU #ROHAN!!
India’s #RohanMore becomes the youngest in the world and the FIRST Asian to complete the Ocean’s Seven Challenge. He is also the 9th person in the world to complete it.
MANY CONGRATULATIONS!! pic.twitter.com/IqKnjj03Ny— Doordarshan National (@DDNational) February 12, 2018
After waiting for a long time, due to bad weather conditions, Rohan got the chance to swim on February 9. He began swimming at about 9:30 a.m. from the North Island. For the first five hours, the water was calm and the temperature was around 19 degrees Celsius. However, as he progressed towards the South Island, the water temperature dropped by about four degrees Celsius, due to currents from the Antarctic water.
“I really feel very proud and emotional about this thing because after swimming this challenge I became the first Indian ever in history to complete this challenge and only ninth person in the world who has swum all the seven challenges in the Ocean Seven,” Rohan told ANI.
The swimmer also thanked his family members and friends for their support which helped him achieve this feat. More completed his first marathon swim at the age of 11. He completed the Triple Crown almost twenty years later, in less than 11 months and continues to set and accomplish marathon goals.
In 1996, he crossed `Dharamtar to Gateway of India Channel (35 km) in seven hours and 29 minutes. More also completed six of the Oceans Seven swims between 2014 and 2016: English Channel (13 hours and 23 minutes), North Channel (12 hours and 43 minutes), Catalina Channel (10 hours and 17 minutes), Molokai Channel (17 hours and 28 minutes), Tsugaru Strait (10 hours and 37 minutes) and Gibraltar Strait (3 hours and 56 minutes).
He is a national figure and has received the Tenzing Norgay Award from the Indian Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.The award, also known as the National Adventure Award, was presented by President Ram Nath Kovind.
With inputs from IANS and ANI
