Ultra athlete Mayank Vaid, who tried to swim around Hong Kong Island twice in a day, eyes Double Arch 2 Arc Triathlon first
- Vaid once held the record for the fastest Enduroman Arch 2 Arc and was recently foiled in his attempt at the double HK360 Swim
- In August, the 47-year-old Hong Kong lawyer will become the first person to attempt to race from Marble Arch to the Arc de Triomphe and back
Ultra swimmer Mayank Vaid became the first person to attempt to swim around Hong Kong Island twice in one go last week, and is now gearing up to become the first to take a stab at the Double Arch 2 Arc Triathlon.
The HK360 Swim is one clockwise solo lap of Hong Kong Island, starting and ending at Sai Wan Swimming Shed. For the HK720, Vaid was required to circumnavigate the island twice, heading anticlockwise for the second lap.
However, Vaid’s history-making attempt was cut short about three kilometres from finishing the first lap because he was being constantly battered and pushed back by the force of the sea.
“Eight feet below I could see some rocks and the rocks had markings on them,” Vaid said of the moment he had to call off the attempt.
“I was basically swimming on that marking for about 10 minutes. It was full on … We never trained for getting hit in the face by the tide for six hours in a row.”
The 47-year-old Hong Kong lawyer started the swim at 7.30pm on Tuesday, April 23 and could not have made a better start.
