Mumbai witnessed the rise of new heroes this morning as four young swimmers from the city in the age group of 10-15 years, swam a stretch of 25.7 kilometres, in just six hours.
A first attempt for all the four gallant heroes, the young team of swimmers dived into the sea at the Vashi Jetty at 5:45 a.M. And emerged at the Gateway of India between 11:20 a.M. And 12:32 p.M after completing their swim through the pleasant tides of the Arabian Sea.
They were lead for the first 200 metres by coach Santosh Patil, after which the oldest member Aditya Bharadwaj, led the team to the finish.
Supported by leading international swimwear brand Speedo, the four swimmers -- Tanuja Barve (14), Aditya Bharadwaj, (15), Atharwa Mohite (10) and Nachiket Waghmare (11) -- completed this feat after undergoing extensive training under their mentors Santosh Patil and Sanket Sawant.
Expressing his delight on completing the swim, Mumbai's youngest sea-swimmer, 10-year-old Atharwa Mohite, said: "We trained very hard for the last three months for this one day, and I am very happy to have finished.
"The experience was a lot of fun and I now look forward to training to compete in even longer distances. The open water is exciting and I look forward to conquering it again in the future."
Atharwa's ambitions are matched by those of lead swimmer, Aditya Bharadwaj, who on completion of his swim, set himself a new goal of attempting to swim from Dharamtar Port to the Gateway of India in Mumbai.
Veteran swimmer and renowned Mumbaikar, Santosh Patil, commenting on the achievement of his young stars, said: "This was a mammoth task. I am extremely proud of them for having faith in themselves and achieving this remarkable feat. I hope they continue performing well with time.
