VIDEO: Triathlete attempts world record swim in Okanagan Lake

Late Tuesday night, an emotional Adam Ellenstein exited the waters of Okanagan Lake in B.C. after having swam for 40 hours straight. The 39-year-old American triathlete had attempted a world record swim — 105 km in under 40 hours — and is currently waiting to hear from Guinness World Records whether or not he set the record for fastest non-stop swim of Okanagan Lake.

Ellenstein swam the entire 105-km length of Okanagan Lake from north to south, starting out at Kin Beach in Vernon early Monday morning and finishing around 11 PM on Tuesday in Penticton.

In this video captured by Global News, he’s seen teary-eyed but happy after exiting the water and being greeted by family and a crowd of spectators.

“I was challenged for the second half of yesterday — my left shoulder seized up on me,” Ellenstein says in the video. “So I swam pretty much predominantly with one arm for 13 hours.”

After swimming for so long without any sleep, the mental aspect of the challenge started getting to him and he even started hallucinating. But Ellenstein kept going, inspired by his aunt who suffers from Parkinson’s disease. He managed to raise over $17,000 for Parkinson’s disease research by fundraising through this endeavour.

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