A team of four swimmers from Castilla La Mancha - María Luisa Cabañero, Luis Fernando Muñoz, Mateo Pesquer and Francisco Manuel Tamaral - will attempt to complete the 36km crossing of Loch Ness on the 27th July quicker than the current record, which is held by a team of six British swimmers, of nine hours, 21 minutes and 28 seconds.
Deputy regional Sports minister, Javier Martín del Burgo, attended the official team presentation yesterday in Ciudad Real. The team, who, should they complete the crossing, will become the first non-British swim team to cross the famous Scottish lake, already hold the team record for crossing the English Channel which they set last year.
Hypothermia forced Spanish long-distance swim champion, David Meca, to abandon his attempt to swim the length of Loch Ness when he tried at the end of 2004 in water temperatures of around 6ºC (archive photo). At this time of the year, the water will be slightly warmer at around 13ºC, but the cold and murky conditions of the lake are expected to be the main challenges facing the swimmers.
The Spanish English Channel swimmer, David Meca, was unable to complete the 36km crossing of Loch Ness yesterday owing to the extreme cold. He was made to give up the attempt after five and three quarter hours having completed 27.5km, after developing the first symptoms of hypothermia; confusion, sleepiness and lack of coordination. He was also suffering severe pain in his face and hands.
Despite the adverse conditions, and having had to postpone the start of his attempt by an hour, Meca decided to proceed even though the water temperature in the middle of the lake was just 6ºC. The difficult decision to abandon the crossing was taken by Meca´s team and initially produced an angry reaction from the swimmer, which he regretted afterwards.
Soon after being pulled out of the water, he said: "To be honest I couldn´t feel the cold, as I was concentrating on my stroke. I appreciate the efforts of my team and I must thank them for taking this difficult decision for me as I was in no condition to do so. I´m very sorry about my initial reaction. I understand now that I was in real danger as they have explained to me that lack of reactions and mental confusion are symptoms of hypothermia, which explains why I wanted to carry on. They had to take the decision for me, and I know that they were right, but we´re all very disappointed."
