Endurance Athlete takes on Samoa's big swim

Hi All,

My friend David Edgar has been a fanatical athlete all his life.

At the age of 15, He completed his first north island coast to coast.

At one stage he was ranked as a world Triathlete, has completed the New Zealand and Hawaiian Ironman races and he was also the first person to ever complete a 105km Perimeter Relay Race in Samoa, alone. Due to a significant knee injury (knee joint alignment due to a significantly bowed tibia), this significantly effected athletic activity, especially his ability to run. Over a year ago, he had a serious operation to mend this issue (underwent a full high tibial osteotomy to re-aline his knee which means he is now unable to attempt any serious running due to this injury.

My friend David, being David sought another avenue of athleticism to push his boundaries of endurance. This being swimming and in this particular case, open ocean swimming. David's goal from day one was to swim the Cook Strait, he started gradually by swimming laps and laps in an indoor pool for hours on end then entered and completed open ocean swim qualifiers at the north shore of Auckland and Lake Taupo. By successfully completing this he has now qualified for the Apolima Strait 22.5km crossing from the main island of Upolu, Samoa and ending in Savaii, Samoa. This event is an international level open water swimming event in all extreme ways, 22.5km of 'real open water', point to point with no stopping (only to pause to eat and drink), open water navigation, reliance on a support boat and kayaker for route direction, dealing with what ever sea, environmental and tide conditions that present on the day. And that's even before dealing with 'salt mouth' and possible sea sickness! A true extreme human challenge that David thrives on!

If David can complete this, he will show he has the 'athletic credentials' to undertake his ultimate goal, the Cook Strait. This is where we need your help, David has a lot of expenses including the entrance fee and Flights with accommodation for himself and number one support person, his wife Karen. For a guy, who didn't really learn to swim until the age of 17 and has let no setback slow him down, I ask all that know or who do not know him to Give a little.

Thank you

For additional information please review the following: https://www.themarlburian.co.nz/2018/03/02/endurance-athlete-takes-on-samoas-big-swim/