Polar Bear Swims 426 Miles Non Stop

Scientists studying Polar Bears in the Beaufort Sea, North of Alaska, have watched one swim continuously for 232 hours (that's nine and half days), covering a distance of 426 miles / 687km in near freezing temperatures - a marathon for an animal searching for new hunting grounds, as the ice sheets melt, and probably something its cubs are going to be faced with, as the ice retreats due to climate change.

When talking about endurance swimming, you (well maybe just me) naturally think of the English Channel - which is approximately 21miles / 32km from Dover to Cap Gris Nez - depending on tides. So our plucky polar bear has swum the equivalent of 20 channels non stop.

The furthest a human has swum continuously is 122 miles / 197 km in 38 hours or so, the distance Susie Maroney did by swimming from Mexico to Cuba. Yes the water was much warmer, but she did get stung by a jellyfish, and break her wrist on the first night in unexpected storms. Ouch.

Then there's Lewis Gordon Pugh, who in July 2007 swam 1km in 18min 50secs across an open patch of sea at the North Pole to draw attention to the melting of the Arctic sea ice. The water temperature was Minus 1.7˚C, the coldest a human has swum in. He did this in speedos, a swimming cap and a pair of googles - the challenge was conducted in accordance with Channel Swimming Association Rules.

Lewis has since swum Lake Imja in the Himalayas, created by recent glacial melting, and Lake Pumori a body of water at an altitude of 5300m on Everest. Watch his fascinating account of this, and his views on climate change from his talk at last years TED conference below.

For the record, the furthest I've swum continuously, is 4.4miles / 7.1km in November 2009 in the 25m Guildford Spectrum. It took me two hours. I was going for 300 lengths, but for a young lad sharing the lane with me, who seemed to struggle with his turns, spending most of the time under the water, almost stationary and generally getting in the way. After a while it dawned on my the dirty boy was spending his charity swim letching at women in the neighbouring lane. The coldest water I've swum in? The now legendary open air swimming pool in Malvern, the thought of which still makes me shudder.