LABUAN: Malaysian channel swimmers dominated the Labuan Cross Channel Swim Challenge 2023 on Saturday with Wong Ka Sheng emerging as champion in the men’s open category.
He clocked 1:21:27 in the 5.5 kilometres (km) channel swim with Chin Zhung Lim finishing as the first runner-up in 1:36:34, and Jason Ho Wheng Seng came in third in 2:09:23.
Despite the extreme heat and gruelling cold seawater, 70 extreme swimmers for various categories, took part in the race,
which is one of the three main events of the 25th series of Labuan International Sea Challenge (LISC) from May 9 -14.
Foreign extreme athletes dominated the men’s veteran category, with French swimmer, Johan Bernard Foray winning first place with a record time of 2:01:31 while Briton Mathew Austin clocked 2:01:40 and New Zealander Michael Suliman in 2:05:03 for the second and third spots respectively.
Brunei extreme athlete, Florence Chin clinched the Women’s veteran category in 2:29:53 to edge two Malaysian athletes.
The Malaysian duo Pamela Rita finished in 2:46:37, and Claire Andrew clocked 2:59:47 for the second and third placing respectively.
“Although, the tides were most favourable, it was tough to swim under the extremely hot weather condition … as the water turned out to be warmer than the air, and it gave me a shot of confidence.
“The key to open-water swimming is training your body to adjust to the effort and to the cold, while also training your mind to trust that your body will do it. The mind part, he believes, is hardest,” said one of the participants.
Labuan Corporation (main organiser of LISC 2023) chief executive officer Rithuan Ismail said the sky was cloudy this morning, but the air hovered at extremely hot degrees, and the wind ranged between five and eight kilometres per hour (kmph) when the cross channel was flagged off.
The open-water swim challenge in the 23rd Labuan International Sea Challenge 2019 earned an entry in the Malaysia Book of Records (MBR), with a record 185 swimmers, the largest cross-channel event in Malaysia (surpassing 103 swimmers in 2009). – BERNAMA
