James Norton heroically took part in the ultra-competitive Capri Napoli 36 km marathon swimming race last weekend. With a solo swim of the English Channel and a completion of Lake Zurich under his trunks, James knew he was upping the ante by taking part in this premier standard Italian race. We at the Serpentine are enormously proud of James for being an excellent ambassador of the Serpentine Swimming Club. James averaged 3.4kms per hour for ten hours and that includes all his stops for feeding rehydration.
So, without further introduction and for a name familar to all households in the world of swimming, please put your hands together for James Norton...
Buongiorno Serpentini!
36 kilometres separate the island of Capri from Naples, writes James Norton, the same distance as the English Channel, but even so, and despite this being the non-competitive, non-FINA fixture that precedes the serious one in September, a strict ten hour time limit made the swim on Saturday July 4th a fool’s errand, a guaranteed DNF for the likes of me, but Naples is my wife Madda’s home town so I gave it my best shot.
This was the 50th edition of the Maratona del Golfo (with Vesuvius as the 18th hole?) and I was following in the wake of illustrious Serpers Rosemary George who took part in 1963 and Tullio Salvatore in 2012.
The 30 relays and ten solo swimmers all took the hydrofoil to Capri from Naples early in the morning, allowing a rapid inspection of the course and the splendours of the island, home of the classical Sirens (are they the real reason why swimmers wear ear plugs?) The solo competitors from around the world were limited to ten, supposedly after a rigorous selection process. I was the amateur joker in the pack, the others were all clearly serious athletes, a couple wearing the wetsuits supposedly banned by the regulations (Michael Mruzek, the Czech winner, in an amazing 8 hours, wasn’t one of them), surprising given that the rule of law is sacrosanct in that part of the world but I didn’t begrudge them this, given the 25 degree water.
After an opening ceremony in which we paraded in turn with children from the local swimming club, who participated with an indifference bordering on disgust, at 9am the race started and I was left for dust by the field apart from the only woman and only other Channel swimmer, the thoroughly nice Swedish open-water legend Anna Carin-Nordin, who retired halfway as the water was too warm.
It really was an epic pleasure, this swim, expertly supported by my wife’s cousin Pasquale and his son Luca, baking in their little unsheltered support boat as I gradually left the rocky silhouette of Capri behind, passing the Sorrento peninsula, then flanking Vesuvius in lava-ly tranquil azure water without a jellyfish in sight until the magnificent waterfront of Naples piled up ahead. I was ordered to stop about 2km from the finish as the clock hit 10 hours (the excuse being it was not permitted to swim in the port after then), and was told I had been battling a strong counter-current going into the harbour, so it was both a gratifying and frustrating result: seven swimmers finished and I got furthest of the remaining three.
Capricious time limits aside this is a well organised and gorgeous swim well worth a go.
Graze mille to Pasquale and Luca Miele, for their virtuoso Maxim service, and to Tullio Salvatore for his invaluable advice.
More information on this year’s and future events here
Ciao!
James
