First Filipino movement to hold historic English Channel swim in August
The First Filipino International Movement, led by Georgian Honorary Consul Thelmo “Buddy” Cunanan Jr., is organizing the First Filipino English Channel Swim – the first crossing by Filipino swimmers of the sea passage that separates the United Kingdom and France.
The aquatic challenge is considered the “Mount Everest” of open water swims and will be a test of physical and mental strength, courage, sheer human will and heart.
The First Filipino English Channel Swim Team (FFECST), to be captained by Filipino “aquaman” Ingemar Macarine of Bohol, is scheduled to attempt the crossing – a distance of 35 kilometers in the icy waters of the North Atlantic – in mid-August.
Official open water rules require swimmers to attempt the challenge clad in nothing more than ordinary swimming trunks, swim cap, and goggles. Cunanan said the team expects the swim to be completed in approximately 13-15 hours, given weather conditions and currents.
FFECST has already been training for this challenge, with plenty of regular open water swims for Macarine all over the country and multiple sessions in the cold water pool of the Philippine Military Academy in Baguio City.
From late June, FFECST will be based in the seaside city of Folkestone, in the southern United Kingdom, where Macarine will continue cross-training and begin open water trials and temperature acclimatization.
The swim aims to celebrate international friendship and to raise awareness of climate change and global warming – core advocacies of the First Filipino International Movement, which were highlighted by the organization during the COP21 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris last December.
The August event will also include maritime protection art exhibits in the United Kingdom and Ireland, in cooperation with partner-NGOs Ocean Security International (OSI) and Earthsavers UNESCO Artists for Peace.
Finally, the First Filipino International Movement will join OSI and Earthsavers in presenting the historic Filipino English Channel crossing to the international community at the 22nd Conference of Parties (COP22) United Nations Climate Change Conference in Marrakesh, Morocco in December.
The Philippine participation is supported by San Miguel Corp. and its flagship brand Red Horse.
The First Filipino International Movement was founded by Cunanan in 2014, with the objective of supporting and organizing historic achievements and landmark accomplishments by Filipinos all over the world. The organization’s kick-off event was held in South Africa in Feb. 2014, when two of its swimmers, braving the threat of great white sharks and the cold waters of the South Atlantic, became the first Filipinos to cross the Robben Island channel to Cape Town.
The swim, a distance of eight kilometers and accomplished in under three hours, was in honor of the late Nelson Mandela and to thank South Africans for their help in Leyte in the aftermath of the devastating Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda).
Since then, the First Filipino International Movement has carried out other projects, particularly in the area of heritage and culture, the most recent of which was a three-city European art roadshow (November and December 2015) to promote climate change awareness.
More information: 1FM Secretary-General Melissa Dizon-Dulalia at 09173791738.