Barely 8 ËšC (46,5 Fahrenheits)
On Tuesday morning Martin Strel started fighting the mountain river Drava in Austrian town Lienz. Because of the heavy rainfall at night the water in the morning was extremely cold. In the beginning the team measured the water temperature only 8 ËšC (46,5 F) and even in spite of burning sun during the day, water did not warm up over 10 ËšC (50 F).
For that reason Martin put on himself a lot of Vaseline and other creams and dressed warm. Considering the big storm at night, the river is high and rushing, which on one side gives Martin some help, but on the other side there are many obstacles such as branches and other floating stuff.

After 10 hours of swimming Martin made 100 km and almost reached 15 km distant Villach. In the next days the swimming will be essentially slowing down, because there will be many hydroelectric power plants on the river.

So far Martin’s the biggest problem is cold water, which can cause breathing and throat inflammation, because Martin is incessantly in touch with water.
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Friday, 13. Dec 2024
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