Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.

Nejib Belhedi is now a fixture on Tunisian television as he ups his ante in his World Iron Swim Series.

At first, he began to pull two children in a catamaran along a 15 km course in the Golfe de Skanes in Tunisia’s Monastir Sea. The swim took a lot of planning and local coordination, but it ultimately achieved success after a series of fits and starts.

That World Iron Swim was accomplished on May 24th when he pulled 2 children sitting in a trailing boat in a long 6 hours 40 minutes from the One Resort Hotel beach to Dkhlia beach under the guidance of escort pilot Mahdi Aghir.

Then in early October the heart surgery survivor decided to pull even more. During his 4 km swim in the port of Mahdia, he pulled a 1.5-ton camel and his master in a boat. “I completed my swim of peace with a camel named Chamakh across the famous sea of Mahdia.”

While his Camel Swim is nominated for the 2015 World Open Water Swimming Performance of the Year, Belhedi chose to do one better before the year went out.

Belhedi’s most recent Iron Swims this week included a boat pulling event where he first pulled a 22-ton boat and then a 40-ton trailing boat for 200 meters.

We cannot wait for his next generation Iron Swim.

His nomination for the World Open Water Swimming Performance of the Year reads, “Nejib Belhedi has been turning heads and changing mindsets with this World Iron Swim tour, but with his 4 km swim in Mahdia, he made people stop in their tracks. The English Channel swimmer completed a number of World Iron Swims throughout his native Tunisia where he pulled children, adults and camels along in a boat during highly publicized swims of peace in the turbulent world around his homeland. For his creativity of selecting a 1.5-ton camel to pull along to highlight his swims of peace, for his relentless promotion of the joy, challenge and healthfulness of open water swimming for people of all ages, and for his constantly cheerful attitude that rubs off positively on children and adults, Nejib Belhedi’s Camel Swim is a worthy nominee for the 2015 World Open Water Swimming Performance of the Year.”

To vote for the 2015 World Open Water Swimming Performance of the Year, visit the WOWSA Awards voting page here. Voting continues to December 31st 2015.

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