SURIGAO-BORN triathlete-lawyer Ingemar “Pinoy Aquaman” Macarine completed an 8.1-kilometer swim across the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland Tuesday morning.
Macarine’s sheer guts and determination made him the first Filipino to cross the channel despite the cold 72.1-degree Fahrenheit water.
The water this time though was not as cold compared to his swim from Alcatraz Island to San Francisco in California last year, which was at 51 degrees Fahrenheit.
“I’m happy that finally we did it,” Macarine said.
In his wet suit, Macarine started his swim from the shore of Sandy Point State Park, about five miles northeast of Annapolis, and finished at a sandy beach on Kent Island south of the Bridge eastern-shore causeway.
The 38-year-old Macarine swam at an average of three kilometers per hour, completing the course in two hours and 58 minutes.
The Great Chesapeake Bay Swim is one of America’s premier open water swim challenges. Macarine’s Chesapeake Bay swim would be his 13th open water swim and the third in the US.
Macarine is the first Filipino to swim the 2.8-km channel from Alcatraz Island Penitentiary to San Francisco April last year. His second open water swim in the US happened in Lake Lane in Florida also last year.
The Surigao-born and aised Macarine is the first person to swim nonstop the 12.8-km Surigao Channel from Hikdop Island to Surigao City, the 7-km Babuyan Channel in Cagayan Valley in Northern Luzon, and the 10.5-km Hinatuan Passage in Claver, Surigao del Norte.
He is also the first person to cross the 13.4-km stretch from Balicasag Island to Panglao Island in Bohol. –roel catoto of mindanews
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