Amazing Sports Feats

Imagine swimming from Minnesota to Mexico or riding your bike from Alaska to Argentina. From world-wide windsurfing to cross-continental cycling, Kidzworld looks at some of the world's most impressive sports endurance feats.

Swimming the Mississippi

In 2002, Martin Strel of Slovenia swam the entire length of the Mississippi River, from northern Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico, in 68 days. Strel, who is often mistaken for a fish, swam an average of 11 hours a day during his 2,360 mile swim down the Mississippi. Ridiculously long dips in the water have become a hobby for Strel. In 2000, he set a world record for swimming the entire length of the Danube River in 58 days. Strel's 1,878 mile swim started in Germany and finished in Romania.

Worldwide Windsurfing

Sharks and seasickness were just some of the dangers Raphaella Le Gouvello of France dealt with during his amazing journey across the Pacific Ocean, which ended on November 3, 2003. Le Gouvello windsurfed solo from Lima, Peru to Tahiti in 89 days, on a specially designed board, which used solar and wind power to operate navigation devices and a radio. During her 5,000 mile maritime-marathon, Le Gouvello had to deal with cold weather, huge swells and close encounters with sharks, seals and baracudas.

7 Days, 7 Continents, 7 Marathons

Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Dr. Michael Stroud went seven for seven during a grueling week of marathon running and transcontinental travel. The pair ran seven marathons in seven days on seven continents from October 26 - November 2, 2003. Fiennes and Stroud's first marathon was in southern Chile, followed by ones in the Falkland Islands and Sydney, Australia. The two men then ran 26-mile races in Singapore, London and Cairo, before finishing their amazing seven-day feat by completing the New York City Marathon. Besides battling the exhaustion that any marathon runner faces, Fiennes and Stround also had to battle jet lag and dramatic changes in temperature and humidity during each race. The feat was even more impressive for Fiennes, who suffered a heart attack just four months earlier.

Cross-Continental Cycling

When Dan Buettner goes for a bike ride, he sometimes doesn't return home for weeks or even months. Buettner's longest ride was Americastrek in 1986-87, when he and four other Americans rode their bikes from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, Argentina - a distance of 15,500 miles! Dan Buettner has also set world records for a 12,888 mile trek across the former Soviet Union and a 12,172 mile ride across the width and length of Africa.

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Read more: Sports Almanac