Sponsored by WOWSA, Mexico City. International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame Honor Swimmer Antonio Argüelles begins today on his journey to become the oldest person – at the age of 62 – to complete a 67 km two-way crossing of the English Channel. “It is incredible to see how far people are pushing the boundaries in the open water,” says Steven Munatones. “Back in 1979 when I first started to cover open water swimming, the famous Olympic coach Doc Counsilman made global headlines when he crossed the English Channel at the age of 58 in 13 hours 7 minutes. There was a documentary made on his crossing, Doc, The Oldest Man in the Sea – and the O’Clee Jubilee Cup was established the next year by the Channel Swimming Association. It was a big, big deal that made significant impact on the mindset of the previous generation of open water swimmers. And dial forward to the present and we have seen swimmers like Rick Seirer who set the two-way English Channel crossing at the age of 59 years 351 days (in 29 hours 46 minutes). Argüelles, an Oceans Seven swimmer, is going to share his year-long journey from Day One. Like swimmers around the world, Argüelles has been locked down in his home and unable to swim during the global COVID-19 pandemic. He had to postpone his swim and deal with the disappointment and issues that everyone has had to face, personal, logistical, physiological, and psychological. It has not been easy – and his success going forward will neither be easy nor guaranteed. “So many things can go wrong in this new world where we now all live,” commented Munatones. “But Antonio makes the sport of swimming feel more accessible because he enjoys the journey and life in general. He is not only about swimming miles in training, but he also leads a company, drinks Corona beer, and has his family around him. Follow Argüelles as he shares his challenges, his swimming workouts, his dryland training, his nutritional considerations, his travel schedule, and his mindset as he tries to become the first man over 60 years old to swim 67 km in the cold water between England and France, twice.” Open water swimming vernacular for newbies: Two-way crossing: a solo or relay swim that continues two consecutive times across a channel, lake, river or other body of water under the traditional rules of marathon swimming Double crossing: synonym for two-way crossing English Channel: body of water between the countries of England and France, 33.5 km in a straight-line tangent Channel swimming: swimming between two land masses Doc Counsilman: considered to be the most successful Olympic swimming coach in history and a long-time coach at Indiana University Oceans Seven: swimming across the English Channel, North Channel, Molokai Channel, Catalina Channel, Tsugaru Channel, Cook Strait and Strait of Gibraltar Dryland training: physical conditioning that a swimmer does out of the water on land that can include cardiovascular, flexibility, and strength activities in order to condition, stretch and strengthen muscles, ligaments and tendons that are used in swimming while building fitness and athleticism Copyright © 2008 – 2020 by World Open Water Swimming Association