Priscilla de Andrade Magalhães Completes Travessia do Leme ao Pontal
Adherbal de Oliveira of the Leme to Pontal Swimming Association reported on the continuation of the successful 2022 season. “On August 16th, 39-year-old Priscilla de Andrade Magalhães completed the 36 km Travessia do Leme ao Pontal in 10 hours 18 minutes.
Due to the natural beautiful landscape along the Travessia course in Rio de Janeiro, Magalhães wanted to make this crossing for the last 3 years; however, she felt the need to prepare properly because of the well-known adversities including the currents, night swimming, winds, swells, and distance.
As part of her preparation, Magalhães decided to change teams and coaches, as well as doing some minor crossings. After this long period, the big day arrived. Magalhães entered the 23°C near Leme Beach at the starting at 5:40 am under a full moon with 1 meter ocean swells and north winds with gusts of 14 km per hour.
Despite the wind causing a lot of swells, she set a pace of 4 km per hour with 60 strokes per minute in the initial hours. But after 16 km close to the beach of São Conrado, she had to exert a lot of strength to overcome the opposite current and continue advancing. The great effort caused her pain and led to great stomach discomfort. At that point, the interruption of the swim became very likely.
But Magalhães is a doctor and military firefighter from Rio de Janeiro. She was very brave and managed to deal with the discomfort, keeping herself mentally strong and advancing on the course with the support of the escort boat Otto Magalhães Jr., piloted by Commander Ary da Conceição with LPSA observer Ricardo Patrick Lima Silva.
The final 20km was carried out with a lot of tension for everyone who was following on LPSA’s social media channels. In the end, she finished in 10 hours 18 minutes and 20 seconds, to the joy and relief of the entire open water community. Magalhães reached the sands of Pontal Beach and completed the 36 km Travessia do Leme ao Pontal, known as the most popular crossing in South America.”
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