Lewis Gordon Pugh
Lewis Gordon Pugh is a 36 year old lawyer who has pioneered more swims around famous landmarks than any other swimmer.
He was the first person to complete a long distance swim in all five oceans of the world and the first to complete a long distance swim in both the frozen waters of the Arctic and Antarctic.
In a career spanning nearly 20 years the explorer and endurance swimmer has ignored the dangers of sharks and polar bears and taken on winds and sea currents to prove just how far an athlete can push himself.
His unique ability to withstand cold and significantly raise his core body temperature in anticipation of water has surprised many top sports scientists and earned him the name of "The Polar Bear".
Lewis' swims include:
May 2006: Lewis broke the WORLD RECORD for the LONGEST SWIM IN ICE WATER in Nigards Glacier Lake in Norway. He swam 1,200 meters in 23 minutes and 50 seconds.
Feb 2006: Lewis won the gold medal at the 500 meter freestyle in the WORLD WINTER SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS held in Finland. The water was 0°C.
December 2005: Lewis swam 1km at PETERMANN ISLAND off the Antarctic Peninsula at 65° South to break the WORLD RECORD for the MOST SOUTHERN SWIM ever undertaken. The previous record had been held by American swimmer Lynne Cox. The swim took place in the most extreme conditions imaginable - the water was 0°C in temperature, there were icebergs around, and it was snowing heavily. With Adelie penguins watching it was a surreal scene. Lewis says it was the hardest cold water swim he has ever attempted. "The difference between swimming in 0°C water in Antarctica and 3°C water in the Arctic was the difference between night and day. A 3°C difference does not sound like much - but it is enormous." The swim took 18 minutes to complete and thrust Lewis into the international limelight. More than 500 TV news channels around the world broadcast the event.
December 2005: Lewis swam 1 mile across Whalers Bay in DECEPTION ISLAND. The island, which is part of the south Shetland Islands, is a flooded volcano and the water is sometimes so hot that it removes the paint off the hulls of vessels. However, on the day of Lewis' swim it lived up to its name - the water was an icy 2°C- 3°C! Lewis completed the swim in 30 minutes and 30 seconds making it the LONGEST POLAR SWIM ever completed. It pushed Lewis right to his limit. Scientists from the Sports Science Institute of South Africa accompanied Lewis to examine the effect of extreme cold on his performance. Twenty minutes after the swim they recorded his core body temperature at 33.6°C (normal body temperature is 37°C) and his muscle temperature (measured by a thermometer inserted into his upper thigh) at just 22°C.
August 2005: Lewis successfully completed the FIRST long distance swim in the ARCTIC OCEAN. He swam 1km at the most northern point of the island of Spitsbergen, at a cape called VERLEGENHUKEN, at 80° north. This was just 1,100 kilometres from the North Pole. The swim, in water of 3°C, took 20 minutes and 30 seconds to complete. Due to its extreme cold and the presence of polar bears, the Arctic Ocean was the last remaining ocean in which a long-distance swim had not taken place. The swim also broke the WORLD RECORD for the MOST NORTHERN LONG DISTANCE SWIM ever undertaken.
August 2004: Lewis swam 204km down SOGNEFJORD in Norway to break the RECORD for the LONGEST COLD WATER SWIM. The swim was undertaken in stages due to the temperature of the water. Temperatures started at just 6°C and the swim took 21 days to complete, with plenty of encouragement from the locals who never believed Lewis would pull it off. Sognefjord, which is over 1,300 metres deep in places, is the second largest fjord in the world after Scoresby Sund, a frozen fjord in Greenland.
August 1992: Lewis swam across the ENGLISH CHANNEL from Shakespeare Beach in England to Cap Blanc in France, in 14 hours and 50 minutes. Conditions were very rough for the first five hours, but then eased during this swim, which is considered the Everest of long-distance swimming. Lewis was the 428th person to complete the crossing.
For further information on Lewis, please refer to http://www.lewispugh.com/index.html.
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