Lewis Pugh is an ocean advocate, endurance swimmer and inspirational speaker. His background includes serving in the Special Air Service (SAS) and working as a maritime lawyer in the City of London. In 2013, he was appointed as the UN’s first Patron of the Oceans.
In his dual role as endurance swimmer and ocean advocate, Lewis has embarked on challenges that have seen him swim through unimaginable conditions in the North Pole, Arctic and Southern Oceans to raise awareness about the dangers facing the oceans. He has been classed as the only person to have completed a long-distance swim in every ocean on the planet.
The Facts
To visualise how challenging The Long Swim was, we have worked out just how many calories Lewis Pugh burned daily and overall, during the feat. This was done using the following information:
- Lewis needed to gain weight before the challenge for insulation. He weighed 100kg (220 pounds) at the start of the swim
- Lewis burned approximately 98,000 calories in total during The Long Swim
- He abided by Channel Swimming Association rules, completing the Long Swim in just a cap, Speedos, and a pair of goggles
- On average, he swam 5-6 hours (10 to 20 km) every day, for a total of 49 days
- In total, Lewis spent over 100 hours in the water
What does 98,000 calories look like?
Cycling the Tour de France 16 times
Completing 12 Iron Man Triathlons
Completing 27 Marathons
Raising Awareness to Protect Our Oceans
Lewis set off on The Long Swim to raise awareness about the lack of protection of the UK’s coastal waters.
A minimal four square miles out of 466,000 of the UK’s waters are fully protected from harmful exploitation, including overfishing and drilling.
Lewis is calling for 30% of the world’s oceans, including around the UK, to be fully protected and classified as Marine Protected Areas by 2030.
You can read more about Lewis’
Long Swim on his blog
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