Marathon Swimming | English Channel Triathlon Dover-Heidelberg

20 Bridges Manhattan – Finishing strong in 9 h 34

by vasanti | Oct 14, 2025 | Extreme Sports, Extreme Swims, marathon swimming, Peace Run, Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team

40 years EC anniversary swim, dedicated to PEACE – and no 2 of the Triple Crown

On Sept. 12, 2025, Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team and Peace Run team member Vasanti Niemz (68) from Heidelberg, Germany, accomplished the iconic “20 Bridges” open water marathon swim around Manhattan Island, dedicating it to PEACE in honour of the United Nations 80th anniversary, the 55th year of Sri Chinmoy Peace Meditations at the United Nations and the International Day of Peace coming up on Sept. 21st.

At the moment she is the oldest female ever to complete this 48,5 km (28,5 mile) current-assisted swim, with a time of 9 hours and 34 minutes. The Peace Torch of the Sri Chinmoy Oneness Home Peace Run was lit at the start and at the end and carried on the boat by her local boat crew Pipasa and Jamini. The swim is organised by New York Open Water (NYOW), who provide the accompanying safety boat and kayak including pilot, observer and kayaker. It was Vasanti’s longtime dream to swim around Manhattan, but for a slower swimmer it became only possible recently, with separate starts now in smaller groups of similar speed and the start time adjusted accordingly to the tidal currents, so the swim would be mostly current-assisted.

The start into the East River and past the UN was quite “lumpy” with strong headwind against the current, but into the Harlem River and in the first part of the Hudson the waters were calmer than expected. At the end it picked up again, but NYOW posted “Vasanti is finishing strong” . “We were delighted to actually finish over one hour ahead of schedule – and so much faster than the 12 hours I had kind of expected in case I might slow down towards the end, with strong headwinds and reduced endurance training this year due to a few infections,” Vasanti commented.

It was very special to swim in honour of the 80th UN anniversary and at the same time celebrate a personal 40th anniversary of her first English Channel swim of Sept. 9, 1985.

The Manhattan swim is part of the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming (Engl. Channel, Manhattan + Catalina), and she is planning to attempt the 3rd swim – Catalina Channel – in August 2026, for another age record.

Longer story and more photos: https://www.peacerun.org/us/news/2025…
See our short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6AXKwfRTeQ

” Individual self-transcendence
Collectively inspires
Humanity at large.”

“A self-transcendence-mind
Has peace.
A oneness-heart
Is peace.”

– Sri Chinmoy

Global Open Water Conference – Honouring Sri Chinmoy

by vasanti | Oct 1, 2012 | Channel swimming, Extreme Sports, IMSHOF, Sri Chinmoy, Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team, World Harmony Run

It was a nice adventure and a great honour to be invited to the Global Open Water Swimming Conference Sept. 21st/22nd 2012 on the Queen Mary, in Long Beach, California, to accept the IMSHOF award for Sri Chinmoy, who was being honoured posthumously for his decades of inspiration and mentorship in the Open Water and Channel swimming world. I felt like a tiny fish among so many great fish (Diana Nyad, OW legend Greta Anderson, “Big River Man” Martin Strel (who was lifted by Sri Chinmoy in 2004), Penny Lee Dean, Marcos Diaz (U.N. Goodwill and Ocean Ambassador), Marcy MacDonald, Elisabeth Fry, Dr. Jane Katz (who has trained some of our team`s Channel swimmers in N.Y.), Michael Read (King of the Channel 1997-2005), Ned Denison, Peace Swimmer Nejib Belhedi and many others) – and it was extremely inspiring to meet with and listen to so many open water greats – and to speak to them about Sri Chinmoy and the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team – and introduce the new book “Sport and Meditation”.

Many guests and speakers enjoyed holding the World Harmony Torch and making a wish for peace, and the Torch was finally invited also into the group photo with all the IMSHOF honourees.

Steven Munatones, main organiser of the Conference (with co-organiser Lexie Kelly on the left and Shelley Taylor-Smith on the right), was awarded the Torch Bearer Award of the World Harmony Run for his tireless efforts in promoting the spirit of self-transcendence and international friendship, inspiring and joining so many people across the world in their various quests in the open water world.

The 3rd day of the conference was marked by the “Swim Across America” in the Marine Stadium of Long Beach with races of various distances – and around 350 participants. Training for Gibraltar, I chose the 10 k olympic distance and was quite happy to finish in 3 h 25 – more than a minute before Mike Read, King of the English Channel from 1997-2005 with 33 crossings. Abhejali did 1.5 k in 27 min 26.

We were three from our Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team: myself (EC 1985 and 2010, Zurich lakes etc.), Abhejali Bernadova from Czech Republic (English Channel 2011, Manhattan Island Marathon Swim 2012, Zurich lake etc.), Bigalita Egger, L.A. (ultrarunner, several 10 day races in New York at age 70+) and Ahelee (EC solo 2001), a good friend, and we had a great time during, before and after the conference! Thank you everyone for your support – and the IMSHOF for their amazing efforts!