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This week was another big step forward for of our primary school PE teacher, Paul Georgescu, as he returns from New Zealand victorious, having successfully swum the Cook Strait. Departing the southernmost tip of the North Island from Ohau Bay, Paul began the 29km crossing early Monday morning, battling strong currents in cool 17° waters, to eventually touch the shores of Arapaoa Island, at the northern eastern most tip of the South Island in a time of 9:02:11. For Paul this was the sixth leg of the of the OCEANS SEVEN CHALLENGE, which involves crossing 7 of the most difficult straits and canals in the world:
· English Channel
· Catalina Channel
· Molokai Channel
· North Channel
· Strait of Gibraltar
· Cook Strait
· Tsugaru Strait (July 2024)
If Paul completes the final leg of his journey, the Tsugaru Strait, Japan, which he is scheduled to swim in July 2024, he will be one of the few in the world to do so – and the first Romanian – with just 27 swimmers having completed the Oceans Seven Challenge to date. In 2021, Paul was named International Swimmer of the Year at the World Open Water Swimming Association Awards, having set a new Word Record of the Ice Mile (swimming a mile in water below 4°C), having set a new world record for swimming the fastest mile in the Antarctic Circle, and winning a gold medal for the 500m freestyle at the Ice Swimming World Championships.
A huge congratulations to Paul for his incredible achievement from the entire IBSB Community – you are an inspiration to our students and to the next generation of Romanian athletes, teaching us all that with a great deal of effort, perseverance, an unwavering sense of self-belief, and a dedicated support team behind you, the almost unimaginable can become reality.
