Dutchman aims to swim the Elfstedentocht to raise money for cancer research

Photo: McSmit via Wikimedia Commons

Olympic open water swimming champion Maarten van der Weijden will on Saturday begin a marathon swim following the 200 kilometre route of the legendary Elfstedentocht skating race.

Van der Weijden, who survived leukemia as a young man, hopes to complete the distance in three days and two nights to raise money for cancer research.

‘I was looking for a long distance to cover and something Dutch,’ he told broadcaster NOS earlier. ‘Nothing beats this route of all routes.’

Van der Weijden will enter the water at 4.30am on Saturday and aims to finish on Monday evening. The entire swim will be followed live on the NOS You Tube channel.

Thank you for donating to DutchNews.nl.

We could not provide the Dutch News service, and keep it free of charge, without the generous support of our readers. Your donations allow us to report on issues you tell us matter, and provide you with a summary of the most important Dutch news each day.

Make a donation