Pune boy completes three long distance swims in a month

Mumbai: Pune teenager Aditya Raut completed the arduous and energy-sapping feat of swimming across three different seas, including the English Channel, in a space of 25 days and is now targeting the long distance swim contests.Raut, who turned 16 during the course of his endeavour, crossed the 26-km Swiss Channel on July 26, swam across the

15-km Gibraltar Strait Channel in Spain on August 8 and then conquered the 42-km wide English Channel on August 19. "It was tough, crossing three channels. I had to stop after completing one and then start preparing again for the second and I`m glad to have done it," said Raut at a media conference today. Raut thus became the first swimmer in the world to conquer nine seas/channels of nine countries and spanning five continents, having started his feat by crossing the 70 kms distance from the Gateway of India to Dharamtar and back here in 2002 as a nine-year-old. A recipient of the Maharashtra government`s Shiv Chhatrapati award, the eleventh standard student of the Abbasaheb College of Science in Pune said the cold waters in all three channels were a real challenge to all swimmers. "The temperature was between 15 and 17 degrees and he took more than nine hours to swim across the Swiss Channel after targeting to do it in six hours because of this factor, his coach Vinay Marathe said. "Raut will now concentrate on taking part in the World long distance swimming competitions conducted by FINA (world swimming body) and the 10-km sea swim is suitable for him," Marathe said. "He`s used to the cold waters now which would stand him in good stead as these contests are all held in Europe, America and Australia," he said. Marathe said Raut would try and qualify for the world championship in sea swimming through the competitions being conducted by the Swimming Federation of India. "He can also compete in lane swimming, having taken part in 800m freestyle in the nationals," he said, but added Raut is more suited for sea swimming. The other seas/ channels he has conquered are: Robin Island in Cape Town, South Africa, Cook Strait in New Zealand, Toroneous Gulf in Greece, Catalina Channel in USA and Seven Islands in Tunisia. Raut`s father said that the English channel swim in itself cost the family Rs four lakh with the money being paid to the channel swimming association. "In all I had to spend Rs 7.5 lakh for the three swims," he said, adding that the Maharashtra government had given a grant of Rs 25,000 towards helping his son achieve the feat. Bureau Report