500K, Day 8, Record Broken

17th September, the existing Guinness Book of World Records open water relay swim record of 480K was broken by the 220-person Camlough Record Breakers in northern Ireland. Local swimming legend Myles McCourt swam the leg which broke the record and Paul McCann then set off to carry on to extend the record. The non-stop relay will continued until this Saturday.

500K, Day 7: 137 Hours Down, 400K Swum, 100K Left

As of Tuesday morning, 137 hours into their world record open water swimming relay attempt, the 220-person team in northern Ireland has covered 400.5K and is scheduled to break the record tomorrow. Relay organizers estimate they will be able to set the record by swimming 650K non-stop over a 9-day period - which will be a very difficult record to break.

500K, Day 6: 113 Hours Down, 328K Swum, 172K Left

As of 11:00 am local time today, the world record attempt at the longest open water swimming relay in history is making significant headway.

According to organizers Padraig Mallon, & Aoife Mc Court / Lynch, everything is running to plan with the weather conditions brilliant.

People from all over Ireland have been come in huge numbers to support Camlough Record Team. Over the weekend, hundreds of people turned out to cheer on the swimmer who are now 113 hours into the attempt.

328K has been swum to date with only 172K left to swim to reach their target of 500K.

The organizers predict the record will be set by Wednesday. However, the team's plan is to continue swimming until 11:00 am on Saturday. All the swim slots have been covered until Saturday so the new record will most likely be set with much room to spare.

500K, Day1, World Record Attempt Underway

source: 10kswimmer.com

220 open water swimmers set off at 6:00 pm local time towards their goal of setting a open water swimming relay world record. With a goal of swimming at least 500K (310 miles) in Camlough Lake in Newry in Northern Ireland, the attempt has the existing open water swimming relay record of 480 kilometers (298 miles) in its sights.

The Guinness World Record Relay Open Water Swim attempt is being held in a GPS-certified loop course of 750 meters with only one swimmer and a support kayak in the water at one time and will continue non-stop for 24 hours per day with an estimated time duration of 9-10 days depending on the weather conditions.

Overseen by John Feehan, Lord Mayor of Newry & Mourne District Council, and Billy Wallace, President of Irish Long Distance Swimming Association, swimmers between the ages of 13 and 63 are taking part with local businesses supporting the huge logistic operation behind this world record attempt in the category of Swimming in Relay, Open Water - Greatest Distance.

Upper photo shows all 220 swimmers taking part. Lower photo shows English Channel swimmer Peter Legg, Aoife Mc Court, Conor Murphy, Minister for Regional Development in Northern Ireland, who swam the first two laps, John Feehan, Mayor of Newry City, and Padraig Mallon, event organizer.