Endurance athlete Ross Edgley has now been officially ratified by both Guinness World Records and the World Openwater Swimming Association for achieving ‘The Longest Distance Assisted Adventure Swim’ thanks to a monumental effort that saw him travel down the Yukon river in June, 2024. His latest accomplishment is the result of a challenging prep process, and a herculean execution. So, eager to learn more, M&F sat down for an exclusive chat with the inspirational Brit.
Taking on a world record attempt such as a long-distance swim, with only one month of prep is certainly not ideal, but this was the predicament that Ross Edgley, 38, found himself in.
“This is because, in May, I had a much leaner physique to tackle an ultra-marathon swim in Mallorca, Spain, where the water temperature was 82.4°F (28°C),” he explains to M&F. “So, we only had one month to put on as much fat for insulation as possible, which really isn’t a lot of time and was far from ideal!” The urgency to swim the Yukon was exacerbated by the fact glacial lakes above the famed river were beginning to melt into it. With temperatures hitting lows of 46.4°F (8°C), Edgley had no time to waste. “That meant I had to just eat and insulate as much as possible in the 4 weeks before we started back in June,” he shares.
“With more time, I would have loved to have added the fat more strategically, systematically and with cleaner foods that were calorie dense but equally nutrient dense,” explains the man from Grantham, Lincolnshire, England. “So, ideally, lots of healthy fats like coconut oil, nut butters, avocados, along with oats and fatty fish. However, with such little time we had no choice but to add in some ‘dirty foods,’ that were as calorie-dense as possible.
He adds: “One of my favorite breakfasts was a massive bowl of porridge oats, a large bar of dark chocolate, huge scoops of peanut butter, all warmed-up in the microwave, with double cream poured over the top. What’s important to note is that I tried to avoid fried foods, since I didn’t want to cause unnecessary inflammation. But with so little time to put on fat it meant that I was eating all day, every day with no structure. Basically, if I was awake, I was eating… and was likely putting away 20,000+ calories each day.”
For the uninitiated, the Yukon river flows through the central territory of northwestern Canada and then centrally through the U.S. state of Alaska. It measures 1,980 miles (3,190 km) in total. Edgley managed to cover 317.232 miles (510.558 kilometers) of this huge expanse — in the solo, assisted category. He did so by swimming the river from Lower Laberge (61°23’32” N, 135°13’54” W) at the end of Lake Laberge, all the way to the outcrop near the Stewart River, where it meets the Yukon River (63°21’05” N, 139°55’75” W), in the Yukon Territory of Canada. He achieved this in a time of 54 hours, 51 minutes, and 15 seconds nonstop from June 16 to June 18, 2024).
The Possible Dangers For Ross Edgley’s Historic Swim
Ross Edgely
This was no ordinary swim, as Edgley explains. “With an event like this you’re operating outside of the realms of conventional swimming so you have to account for bears, wolves and bison,” he says, recalling the extreme environment as through it were just another day at the office. “Equally, we had white water rapids, which tested the durability of the ligaments and tendons in my shoulders. Obviously hypothermia was a constant threat since the water was so cold, since it comes from melting glacial lakes high in the mountains.”
He adds: “But, what’s also so interesting is that the flow of the current constantly changes, so you can’t rely on maps or charts. Instead, you have to learn to ‘read the river’ which was something my team were absolute experts at, since they’d grown up on the river and knew it better than anyone else in the world. Although it was a swim, it was also a masterclass in river navigation and survival by the Canadian team (Larry Bonnett, Brian Earl, Liam Parfitt, Stan Fordyce, Stephen O’Brien, Eric Bonnett, John Robertson, Raymond Kmyta, Shannon Kmyta and Sherrie Earl) and so without them a swim like this simply wasn’t possible.”
Ross Edgley chose the Yukon as the site for his record-breaking challenge because of his love of the history and culture of the area. The idea originally came about “because there’s a famous canoe and kayak race every year called Yukon River Quest, and I just thought: ‘If you can canoe and kayak it, surely you can swim it.”
Still, It would become one of the most difficult challenges that Edgley has dived into so far. “Obviously, my previous (record breaking) swim around Great Britain (in 2018) was brutal, since 1,780 miles (2,865 kilometers) in 157 days could best be described as a war of attrition at sea, but that was a stage sea swim meaning you did it in segments. Because of the non-stop nature of this swim, it was very different, since sleep deprivation mixed with the threat of hypothermia, wolves, and bears meant that every member of the team had to be on high alert because things could go very wrong, very quickly.”
Fortunately, our man completed the task in record breaking fashion, meaning that he has now taken records in ultra marathon, at sea, and in the river.
“It’s hard to describe the feeling,” says Edgley of his most recent accolade. “The end represented the culmination of months of training and preparation, so it was joy mixed with relief, whilst sprinkled with a lot of gratitude that the Yukon and its inhabitants of bears, wolves and bison had allowed us to swim it! We shared that feeling collectively, since every member of the team had been awake for 60+ hours as well, whether driving boats, kayaking, filming, feeding or on medical duty. The heroics of the entire team were incredible, which is why at the end we all sat there for a moment of silence, just reflecting on what we had just achieved.”
Unbelievable Facts About Ross Edgley’s Record Breaking Swim
The athlete maintained 50 – 61 strokes per minute
He ate every 30 minutes (bananas, peanut butter sandwiches along with protein shakes, energy gels, and electrolytes)
A nearby fire resulted in Edgely battling smoke inhalation
He also contracted hypothermia during the swim
With this feat behind him, and his own feat completely wrecked, Edgley and the gang celebrated by engaging in the local traditions. “We celebrated with bison burgers and moose soup, and the expedition leader Ger Kennedy, who’s one of the world’s greatest ice swimmers and a great friend, had the idea that as a team we should celebrate with a local tradition in Dawson City, which is to have a shot of whiskey with a frostbitten toe in it. Yes… it’s as random as it sounds!”
What is anything but random, however, is the planning and passion that Edgley puts into the execution of every challenge. Whether he is competing with sharks, or planning his next endurance challenge, the popular athlete leaves no stone unturned when it comes to completing his epic challenges.
“My very good friend, Chris Morgan (who was the Olympic swim coach for Switzerland) has been with me throughout 2024, and has been such an important part of the team,” explains the trailblazer. “Not only did he kayak hundreds of miles down the Yukon river, by my side, feeding me bananas, he’s also great to share ideas, theory and philosophy on training, strength and conditioning, and one thing that’s so interesting is his ideas about periodising you’re training for large-scale swims like this. Since they place such a huge stress on the body, but equally with that stress comes an amazing training adaptation which is why we’re continuing to train hard and almost use the Yukon as a ‘training swim’ so that we can adapt and can then tackle even bigger swims in 2025.”
