Rohan More becomes first Asian to swim across Ocean Seven

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Pune-based swimmer, Rohan More became the first Asian as well as the first Indian to swim across the Ocean Seven.

Rohan is the youngest person in the world to swim across the Ocean Seven. The Ocean`s Seven marathon 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.

With this, More becomes only the ninth person in the world to complete it. 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.

He fought bravely against the cold water and strong Antarctic currents to complete the swim in eight hours 37 minutes.Talking about his achievement, More said, "It is the greatest moment of my life as I swam across Cook Strait in New Zealand which was the seventh and last in the Ocean Seven.

"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," he added.

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.