LABUAN: Malaysian channel swimmers dominated the 2023 Labuan Cross-Channel Swim Challenge today, with Wong Ka Sheng emerging as champion in the men’s open category.
He clocked 1:21:27 in the 5.5km channel swim, with Chin Zhung Lim finishing as the first runner-up in 1:36:34, and Jason Ho Wheng Seng third in 2:09:23.
Despite the extreme heat and gruellingly cold seawater, 70 extreme swimmers for various categories took part in the race, which is one of the three main events of the 25th series of the Labuan International Sea Challenge (LISC) running from May 9-14.
Foreign extreme athletes dominated the men’s veteran category, with French swimmer Johan Bernard Foray winning first place with a record time of 2:01:31, while Briton Mathew Austin clocked 2:01:40 and New Zealander Michael Suliman 2:05:03 for the second and third spots respectively.
Bruneian extreme athlete Florence Chin clinched the women’s veteran category in 2:29:53 to edge out two Malaysian athletes.
Malaysian Pamela Rita finished in 2:46:37 and Claire Andrew clocked 2:59:47 for the second and third placing respectively.
“Although the tides were most favourable, it was tough to swim in the extremely hot weather...the water turned out to be warmer than the air, and it gave me a shot of confidence.
“The key to open-water swimming is training your body to adjust to the effort and cold, while also training your mind to trust that your body will do it. The mental part is the hardest,” said one of the participants.
Labuan Corporation chief executive officer Rithuan Ismail said the sky was cloudy this morning, but the air hovered at extremely hot temperatures, and the wind ranged between five and eight kilometres per hour when the cross channel swim was flagged off.
The open-water swim challenge in the 2019 Labuan International Sea Challenge earned an entry in the Malaysia Book of Records, with a record 185 swimmers, the largest cross-channel event in Malaysia – surpassing 103 swimmers in 2009. – Bernama
