Vietnamese Amateur Swimmers Complete Record-Breaking 124-Mile Swim

Two Vietnamese athletes made history after swimming more than 200 kilometers (124.3 miles) from Hanoi to the Hong River Delta.

A three-day journey: Duong Minh Quang, 25, and Nguyen Ngoc Khanh, 34, took three days to swim from Hanoi’s Long Bien Bridge to the Balat sea mouth in Thai Binh province.

According to Tuoi Tre News, Duong and Nguyen started their swim at around 1:30 a.m. on Nov. 6, 2020.
A logistics team of 20 people assisted the swimmers throughout this journey, providing necessities such as food and drinking water. It also helped the swimmers at night by lighting the way for them.

Inspiration behind the challenge: After hearing a friend’s plan to swim 80 kilometers (49.7 miles) in 2020, Nguyen decided to pursue his own record-breaking swim.

Creating a team with four other members, Nguyen held training sessions two to three times every week.
During each session, the team would swim around 70 kilometers (43.5 miles) over the span of 15 hours, stopping for a break every 15 to 20 kilometers (9.3 to 12.4 miles).
Although all five members pledged to join the swim, three of them reached up to 100 kilometers (62 miles). In the end, only Duong and Nguyen completed the whole swim.
“There were times that the swim was so boring that I honestly didn’t think there was any reason to continue. I really had to force myself to complete the goal,” Khanh shared.

Aspirations for the future: Despite reaching their goal, Duong and Nguyen have already started dreaming of more record-breaking swims.

“Now that I’ve swum 200km in three days, I dream of going on a longer journey,” Duong said.
Meanwhile, Nguyen hopes to complete a swim the length of Vietnam’s coast.

Feature Image via Khanh Barbarian

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