The Umbrian doctor will attempt the swim around Lake Garda to raise funds for AISM, Italian Multiple Sclerosis Association. He is Marco Fratini and left this morning from Salò for Swim the Garda, the 147-kilometer, 60-hour mission impossible swim organized in collaboration with the Garda Salò Rowing Society.
Fratini, a 50-year-old from Perugia, took the plunge this morning at 6:00 a.m. and plans to swim parallel to the coast while staying 150 meters away from land. The medical swimmer has planned 19 breaks in his journey, each around 8 kilometers (5 miles) apart, as well as two technical stops at night to feed, do physiotherapy, and rest with hypnosis-induced microsleep.
During his journey, Frantini will swim in the lake’s darkness for two nights, so he will be followed by a staff aboard support boats, ready for all eventualities with a first aid kit and defibrillator. Fantini has been preparing for Mission Impossible for two years. He left this morning for Sanfelice and is scheduled to arrive in Lazise around midnight. He will swim to Bardolino and Garda at night, then to Torri del Benaco, Brenzone, Malcesine, Navene, and Torbole on Saturday, arriving in Riva del Garda tomorrow night. He will go south on Sunday evening, arriving in Salò around 5 p.m.
His short course record is 100 kilometers swum in 34 hours, 53 minutes in Perugia in 2020. Fratini did not back down in front of Lake Trasimeno last year, swimming 50 hours without stopping.
