The Spirit of Marathon Swimming

MSF Rules are guided by the traditions and spirit of unassisted marathon swimming.

Marathon swimmers embrace the challenge of crossing wild, open bodies of water with minimal assistance beyond their own physical strength and mental fortitude. There are ways to make the sport easier, but marathon swimmers consciously eschew them.

Marathon swimmers take pride that their achievements can be meaningfully compared to the achievements of previous generations, because the standard equipment of the sport has not changed significantly since 1875.

This page is from “Rules of Marathon Swimming” by Marathon Swimmers Federation. The page is licensed under the CC BY-ND 4.0 license. ©2012-2022 Marathon Swimmers Federation.