Swimming Across A UNESCO World Heritage Site

Swimming Across A UNESCO World Heritage Site

Steven Munatones 04/09/2015 Open Water Swimming No Comment
Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.

#LGSA is a 69 km (42.8 miles) crossing of Lake Geneva in 16-24°C, called the Ultimate Trophy Swim by Ben Barham, founder of the Lake Geneva Swimming Association.

“The LGSA is the only organisation set up to facilitate, officiate and regulate all attempts at the world’s premier ultramarathon fresh water swim in one of the most stunning and glamorous places on earth, Lake Geneva (Lac Léman).

This is one for the top spot in your trophy cabinet. But be under no illusions, though it is sexy, it will not be easy.

As you submerge into the crystal clear glacial water at the start of your swim, at the most easterly point of the lake at Villeneuve and take a breath to your right, you’ll see the world famous 11th century fortress, Switzerland’s most visited historic monument and the setting of Lord Byron’s romantic poem The Prisoner of Chillon (1816).

Another breath to your right, the magnificent Lavaux vineyards, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

A few strokes further, the flow of the water increasingly helping you, on your left you’ll see the house where Shelly conjured Frankenstein, and as you admire the abundance of marine wildlife underneath, discover the remnants of a sunken village, while all around the snow-capped Jura and Alps mountain ranges crown the lake.

As you turn the corner into the home straight, the mighty Jet D’eau in Geneva throws up thousands of gallons of water to wave and welcome you to the finish line of your truly epic and monumental feat of human and sporting endurance.

We are here to help you ‘get there’. With nearly one and a half decades of experience in swimming, management and general ‘being around’ the humbling world of the English Channel, we know how hard these journeys can and should be and we have made the process as easy and the pricing of this as reasonable as we possibly can.

There are awards to be named, records to set & history to be written. Come on down, let’s have some fun and do something really quite remarkable.”



For more information, visit here.

Alain Charmey was the first person to cross Lake Geneva, a difficult swim of 22 hours 42 minutes in August 1986.

Charmay, a then 34-year-old Swiss physical education teacher and swimming coach, swam 44.7 miles (71.9 km) from Villeneuve, on the eastern end of the lake, to Geneva by a small flotilla with his support team.

Copyright © 2015 by World Open Water Swimming Association
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