Whoo-hoo!
LJS did his 12km long distance swim yesterday in Cologne's regatta lake. He was aiming for around 4 hours and finished in 4 hours 9 seconds, so a 3km per hour average. The 9 seconds were probably lost at the first lap turnaround because he swam past the bouy not realising he'd finished lap 1 until the guy with the microphone shouted at him to turn back. Several other swimmers did the same thing.
Feed stations were set up on two pontoons, one at each end of the 2km lap. Water, electrolyte drink, sport bars, bananas and cola. LJS only stopped a couple of times to take on refreshments. Started out comfortably and speeded up on later laps.
First home were a 40-year-old German man, an under-20 guy from the Ukraine national swim team, and a young German girl. LJS was 18th out of 38 starters, and 1st M60.
He's already vowed to start again next year and make it under the 4 hours!
