Hassan Baraka became the first Moroccan swimmer to successfully cross the English Channel (between England and France), covering a distance of 55 km, marking the greatest challenge of his career.
Baraka, who has been preparing for this challenge for several years by taking part in numerous long-distance races in a variety of climatic conditions, completed the distance in 15 hours and 55 minutes.
During this challenge, Baraka faced many difficulties, including low water temperatures oscillating between 12 and 14 degrees Celsius, powerful ocean currents, as well as swimming in the dark. He set off from the Dover area of England at 3.15am British time, arriving on the beach at Cap Blanc-Nez (Pas-de-Calais), France, at 8pm.
The Moroccan swimmer said he had waited for an improvement in weather conditions (winds, tides and currents) before deciding to take up the challenge the day before yesterday, Saturday, although conditions would have been better yesterday, Sunday, and today, Monday. He added that he would not have been able to swim the following two days, and would then have had to wait for new favorable weather conditions in Dover, in the south of the UK.
“I’m proud to put Morocco’s name among the few countries whose swimmers have managed to cross the English Channel, which is considered the Everest of swimming. It wasn’t easy because of the weather conditions and the sea currents that pulled me away several times”, confided the Moroccan swimmer in a statement to the press.He also stressed that he had to avoid jellyfish throughout the course and added: “The water temperature was low, which meant I felt the cold for 15 hours and 55 minutes, but the main thing is that I got to the end”.
Born in Tetouan in 1987, Baraka became the first Moroccan swimmer to complete the World Marathon, which comprises seven marathons in seven days on seven continents. He also managed to swim across the Bosphorus Strait and the Strait of Gibraltar.
The long-distance swimmer also managed to swim from the town of Yutong in Papua New Guinea, located on the border with Oceania, to the beaches of Indonesia, thus linking the Asian and Oceanic continents by swimming a distance of 9 km in 3 hours and 46 minutes.
Baraka also managed to swim from Egypt to Saudi Arabia over a distance of 28.11 km in the Red Sea, thus successfully linking the five continents by swimming.
The Moroccan swimmer began his challenge to swim between the five continents by swimming 16.6 km to link Europe to Africa via the Strait of Gibraltar, before swimming in the Bosphorus in Turkey to link Europe to Asia, between the Diomede Islands in Alaska (USA) and the Great Diomede in Russia, between Papua New Guinea and Indonesia in his symbolic attempt to link Oceania to Asia.In addition, the Moroccan swimmer broke his record in Lake Aguelmam Azegza (about 30 km from the town of Khénifra), swimming a distance of 1600 meters in icy waters, the limit authorized by the International Ice Water Swimming Association.
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