British Man Swims the Waters of the North Pole

Filed in archive Water Adventures on July 15, 2007

Last week, I read about Lynne Cox's plight to become the first person to swim the waters of the Antarctica. And on Sunday, I learned British swimmer Lewis Gordon Pugh became the first person to swim the frigid waters of the North Pole.

It took 37-year old Briton 18 minutes and 50 seconds to swim a little over a half a mile in 28.8 degree water. Pugh reason for the swim was to raise awareness of how global warming is effecting the polar ice cap.

"I hope my swim will inspire world leaders to take climate change seriously. The decisions which they make over the next few years will determine the biodiversity of our world," he added.

"I want my children, and their children, to know that polar bears are still living in the Arctic. These creatures are on the front line up here," he added.

The swim, in a water hole where the usually thick polar ice has melted, was to draw attention to the effect climate change is having on the Arctic ice sheet.

According to a recent United Nations report it has shrunk by six to seven percent in winter and by 10 to 12 percent in summer over the past 30 years.

"I am obviously ecstatic to have succeeded, but this swim is a triumph and a tragedy: a triumph that I could swim in such ferocious conditions but a tragedy that it's possible to swim at the North Pole," said Pugh.

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