‘Pinoy Aquaman’ to test English Channel in August

MACARINE

ENGEMAR Macarine of Bohol is aiming to set another record as he plans to swim a total of 35 kilometers in the icy waters of the English Channel this August.

Macarine, known as the “Pinoy Aquaman,” is recognized for his open-water swimming mastery and recently crossed the 15-kilometer Bohol Strait.

Macarine’s record-setting attempt this August will be named the First Red Horse Filipino English Channel Swim. His team will be named as the First Filipino English Channel Swim Team (FFECST).

It will be the toughest swim Macarine will ever do as he will try to swim the English Channel that separates France from the United Kingdom. The swim is considered the “Mount Everest” of open-water swimming. The swim can be finished at an approximate time of 13 to 15 hours.

Official open-water rules require swimmers to attempt the challenge clad in nothing more than ordinary swimming trunks, swim cap, and goggles.

Before he tries that grueling swim in UK, Macarine is set to swim from Grande Island, Morong Bataan at the mouth of Subic Bay to the shores of Barrio Barretto, Olongapo City Zambales – a distance of roughly 10 kilometers. The swim serves as a donation drive to help families who have lost loved ones because of bicycle accidents.

The 39-year-old Macarine has already done 19 open-water swims. He is known as the first Filipino to have crossed the icy waters of San Francisco Bay from the Alcatraz Island Penitentiary to San Francisco City spanning 2.7-kilometers in April 2014.