He took himself off to Turkey to attempt it himself, but it was anything other than easy to organise. It took him around a week to get the requisite permissions from the local council, the army and the coastguard as well as finding a pilot willing to escort him across. The swim itself took just under an hour to actually swim. This total imbalance between time organising and time swimming made him realise that there must be other swimmers out there who also wanted to do these great swims but didn't want to spend the time organising it all. Hence the idea behind SwimTrek was born! It took him a further 3 years to organise a collection of swims worthy of putting SwimTrek’s name to as well as achieving some personal challenges such as a successful solo swim across the English Channel in 2002.
It began back in 2000 when SwimTrek’s founder Simon Murie was planning for his 30th birthday. He remembered as a boy growing up, reading about Byron’s crossing of the fabled Hellespont which divides Europe and Asia in north-west Turkey. It was made famous in Greek mythology by Leander’s nightly swims to his lover Hero. She would hold out a torch to guide Leander’s way. In the early morning he would swim back across the strait.
It began back in 2000 when SwimTrek’s founder Simon Murie was planning for his 30th birthday. He remembered as a boy growing up, reading about Byron’s crossing of the fabled Hellespont which divides Europe and Asia in north-west Turkey. It was made famous in Greek mythology by Leander’s nightly swims to his lover Hero. She would hold out a torch to guide Leander’s way. In the early morning he would swim back across the strait.
