n June 12, 1962 Frank Lee Morris and the two Anglin brothers alledgedly managed to escape from the Alcatraz prison and cross 1.5 miles of freezing waters onto the shore of San Francisco.
Today, Alcatraz Sharkfest, lets people replicate the daring and audacious swim albeit with the option of using a wetsuit and not being under the cover of darkness. That said, it is still a challenging event that is definitely not for the faint of heart, or the less competent of swimmers. With a pre requirement of the race being that individuals must be able to swim a mile (64 lengths of a 25m pool) in under 40 minutes and the water temperature at 15 degrees Celsius the commitment to training for this event is a very real one.
Last years swim saw all 800 spaces filled with the fastest male and female wetsuit swimmers finishing in 27m10s and 27m22s respectively. The race also saw some incredibly brave, some may call insane, individuals who took to the water without the added buoyancy and warmth of a wetsuit. The fastest finishing times of those individuals were 25m53s for the female competitor and 28m48s for the male.
The next edition of this epic replication of one of the worlds greatest escapes will be run on May 19th 2013. Entry can be found here but places fill quickly so if this is a challenge you want to take then get in quick!
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