A Family Affair In The IJsselmeermarathon
At the 22K IJsselmeermarathon Stavoren – Medemblik in the Netherlands, there is a brother-sister lock on the record book. The personable Olympic 10K Marathon Swim gold medalist Maarten van der Weijden, who was on his recovery road back from leukemia, set the record for the fastest crossing in 4 hours and 20 minutes in 2004.
Maarten‘s sister, Etta van der Weijden, set the female record in 4 hours and 33 minutes in 1996.
King of the IJsselmeermarathon, Joost Kuijlaars, has finished the race 20 times out of the 39 official versions of the race. His best time was 4:55 in 1997. The Queen of the IJsselmeermarathon is International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame honor swimmer Irene van der Laan who has done the race 14 times to date.
In an unusual attempt last year, Paul Oudendijk finished the IJsselmeermarathon in 6:48.30, the only individual to have finished the swim doing only breaststroke.
Copyright © 2010 by Steven Munatones
Southern California native, born 1962, is the creator of the WOWSA Awards, Oceans Seven, Openwaterpedia, Citrus Corps, World Open Water Swimming Association, Daily News of Open Water Swimming, Global Open Water Swimming Conference. He is Chief Executive Officer of KAATSU Global and KAATSU Research Institute. Inductee in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Swimmer, Class of 2001) and Ice Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Contributor - Media, Class of 2019), recipient of the International Swimming Hall of Fame's Poseidon Award (2016), International Swimming Hall of Fame's Irving Davids-Captain Roger Wheeler Memorial Award (2010), USA Swimming's Glen S. Hummer Award (2007, 2010) and Harvard University's John B. Imrie Award (1984). Served on the FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee and as Technical Delegate with the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games, and 9-time USA Swimming coaching staff. Note: WOWSA only recommends products or services used or recommended by the community. WOWSA does not receive compensation for links or products mentioned on this site or in blog posts. If it does, it will be indicated clearly on that specific post. See WOWSA's privacy policy for more information.
Latest posts by Steven Munatones (see all)
