Sunday, April 12, 2009

Fjord Swimming Championships in Norway

The 2009 Sognefjord Swim Festival will be held in August in Sognefjord, Norway. The Sognefjord Swim Festival attracts swimmers from Great Britain, Finland, Slovenia, Italia, Germany, Scotland, Norway and USA and is held in the longest fjord in Norway.



In 2006, the Sognefjord Swim Festival staged the first world fjord swimming championships.

Fjord swimming kicked off in Norway when Lewis Gordon Pugh swam 204K (126 miles) along the length of the Sognefjord in 2004.


After Lewis' unprecedented swim, three Norwegians, a German and a British woman swam across the fjord from Borlaug (Vik) to Nokkaneset (Leikanger) and the swim was called the Sognefjord Challenge. One year later, in 2005, the Sognefjord Challenge was organised with other fjord swimming activities, as part of the first Sognefjord Swim Festival with more than 100 swimmers with the number of participants increasing ever since.

Photo of Sarah Jane Hails with Lewis Gordon Pugh at Borlaug, Vik, Norway by Terje Eggum.