While the FINA 10km Marathon Swimming World Cup moves to Viedma, Argentina this Saturday, the ultra-marathon professional swimmers on the FINA Open Water Swimming Grand Prix circuit will be in for a long day on Sunday, February 5th.

A week after they competed in a down-to-the-wire 57K race from Santa Fe to Coronda, the marathon heavyweights packed up their gear and will be back at each other again in another test of their physical and mental limits.

Veterans Pilar Geijo of Argentina, Trent Grimsey of Australia, Esther Nunez of Spain, Alexander Studzinski of Germany, Rodolfo Valenti of Italy and American Mallory Mead (shown above) will compete in the 88K Maratón Internacional Hernandarias – Paraná.

The longest professional marathon swim on pro circuit is always a treat to see as the pros are relentless in their pace and constant strategic positioning down the Paraná River.

With International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame inductee Anne Cleveland as her coach, Mallory is the newcomer of the group. After she changed her lifestyle and training methods to meet the 88K challenge, Mallory writes, “I feel very good about the work that I have done thus far. I find myself training smarter and swimming faster than ever before and look forward to the opportunity to really put myself out there, to test my mettle and to grow as an athlete.”

She – and her competitors – will have plenty of time for that during the 54.6-mile swim down the Paraná River.

Copyright © 2011 by Open Water Source