Murshidabad (India) 81km river swim

Mandai

I'm trying to get some information on the marathon swim in Murshibada (India) down the Bhagirathi river. There is a website link: http://murshidabad.net/news/news-id-5.htm and I tried to contact them via email but have got no reply so far.

Has anybody particpated in this swim before or has contacts?

TQ, Tobias

bobswims

Impressive looking swim. How did you ever find it?

Mandai

Read about it on the internet some time ago and as I got the hang now of river swimming, this looks tempting. I think there is also a 88km river swim in Argentina but as I'm living in Kuala Lumpur/Malaysia, this one is simply much nearer.

Mandai

Not much luck here with my question

bobswims

I doubt many people could even guess where in India the swim is.

smith

Hope this helps.

http://openwaterpedia.com/index.php?title=India_National_Open_Long_Distance_Swimming_Championship

Mandai

Thanks smith, one inch closer now!
Found out that Marcus Diaz did it in 2006, so I will try to get thru him more info.
http://www.marcosdiaz.net/index.php?page=achievments

I'm getting there...hopefully.

Mandai

Niek, that's great info, finally a contact detail. I'll get in touch with and let you know of the outcome.

MvG

I swam this swim last Sunday 25 August 2019. Finished but got DQ'ed for finishing on the wrong side of the finish boat... See my (public) post on Facebook for a little more detail and some pictures: https://www.facebook.com/1077645326/posts/10217962452907744?sfns=mo

In spite of the finish debacle still a fascinating experience, if not for the faint of heart, for several reasons:

1. the distance, obviously: 81 kms in a strong current. I'd estimate the still-water distance equivalent to be appr. 36-38 kms, so longer than an English Channel crossing;
2. speed: cut-off time is 12h30 minutes. Not much leeway between the fastest swimmers and the cutoff time. Enter this swim only if you can keep an average speed of around 3.5 kms/hr easily. Or just enjoy the swim while it lasts if you don't mind to be pulled at 12h30.
3. very warm water: 30C, and air temperature in the mid-thirties centigrade. I had to drink a liter per hour and didn't pee much.
4. getting there and away. Fly to Kolkata, then a 5 hour drive on a poorly maintained 2-lane road with mad bus and truck drivers hurtling your way. Take a driver with the rental car! Or take a train.
5. a very full side programme with plenty of ceremonies and mighty long speeches in Bengali and Hindi the day before, the hour before and the hours right after the swim. Transfer from the finish point Berhampur (where everybody meets up) to Jangipur which is near the start in Ahiron, is in the evening before the swim (which itself starts at 5 am) - in our case the bus left 2 hours late from verhampur, took 1.5 hours, and then the big Volvo bus got stuck in the narrow streets of Janghipur's city centre, so we walked the last bit to the town square! :-))) Having arrived there the swimmers were put on a podium AGAIN with local dignitaries and a crowd of about a thousand people. Me being the only non-Indian/Bengali among the swimmers I was pushed forward to give an impromptu speech to said crowd and dignitaries... So a hell of a lot more action the day before the swim that you would normally wish, and therfore little sleep before the start. To the organisers' credit they had arranged on the spot for a basic but airconditioned hotel room in Berhampur Saturday afternoon where Asha and Tara and I could take a nap. It may have saved my race...
6. Communication. very few people, esp. among the organisers, are really fluent in English, and online contact before the race is very hit-and-miss. Many things will not go quite as you expected or thought had been agreed. But you will start, and you will finish. Just be zen.
7. water quality: I came out fine, but there were cow carcasses in the water (Asha counted seven), and many villages with poor sanitary facilities on the banks.
8. Food. I actually like the local food and ate it with the other swimmers. If it's not your thing, you might have to bring it yourself.

Also a humbling experience. I did meet a lot of local distance swimmers (often very young). They train in rivers and poorly maintained concrete basins - I bet many if not most of them have never seen the chlorinated, blue-tiled pools that most members of this forum take for granted. Nevertheless they are tough as nails and fast - a pool of talent not much known outside India/Bangladesh

Plenty of other details and practical advice to be given, send me an email if you ever need it.

BogdanZ

Sounds like a memorable experience, some may not have the guts to take, thinking of the carcases.
I for sure would re-re-re consider.
Congratulations for the effort and I am sorry for that DQed. It's sad.

MvG

@BogdanZ said:
Sounds like a memorable experience, some may not have the guts to take, thinking of the carcases.
I for sure would re-re-re consider.
Congratulations for the effort and I am sorry for that DQed. It's sad.

Water volume of the Ganges is huge, so bacterial content gets diluted massively... ;-)

curly

THAT is an adventure...!

molly1205

Wow, what an amazing experience you had! Thank you for sharing the details and also your appreciation for the difficult conditions many talented swimmers have to make do with. You had an epic and challenging adventure - those are always the best kind.

emkhowley

@MvG said:

@BogdanZ said:
Sounds like a memorable experience, some may not have the guts to take, thinking of the carcases.
I for sure would re-re-re consider.
Congratulations for the effort and I am sorry for that DQed. It's sad.

Water volume of the Ganges is huge, so bacterial content gets diluted massively... ;-)

A @gregoc once told me: "The solution to pollution is dilution." I think he was peeing in the Harbor at the time.

Tracy_Clark

@MvG said:
I swam this swim last Sunday 25 August 2019. Finished but got DQ'ed for finishing on the wrong side of the finish boat...

I still cannot believe you were DQ'ed...it's no less painful reading it for a second time...!!!

MvG

@Tracy_Clark said:

@MvG said:
I swam this swim last Sunday 25 August 2019. Finished but got DQ'ed for finishing on the wrong side of the finish boat...

I still cannot believe you were DQ'ed...it's no less painful reading it for a second time...!!!

I really appreciate all the moral support I am getting. At first I was also furious after I was informed of the DQ by a jury member. But I soon felt the jury had no other choice. After aĺl it's a race with longstanding (76 years!) rules, not a crossing where the place of landing matters less than in a race with a precise start and finish line. So I am completely at peace with the jury decision now. Moreover I think that the organisers, while rightly not including me in the final results, handled it most gracefully by sending me a couple of days ago a 'certificate of participation'. To me that FEELS like recognition of the distance swum, even if it isn't really.

There is really only one solution if I want to have a place in the annals of the swim: to do it again, and to keep my wits about me near the finish...

Jaimie

Massive congrats - your swimming, sense of adventure, and most of all your attitude @MvG is so admirable.