CHRISTIAN Jongeneel of Málaga has become the first Spaniard and first European to complete the gruelling open-water swim around Manhattan in New York. He took up the challenge to swim twice clockwise around the island, a total distance of 92 kilometres, passing under the Brooklyn Bridge and past the Statue of Liberty and the United Nations building.
Christian was accompanied by two kayakers throughout his 20-hour and 16-minute non-stop marathon, the last eight hours in darkness, in a challenge that raised money for the Vincent Ferrer Foundation, which aids women suffering from HIV in southern India. He is only the fourth person to have completed the swim, all the others having been from the US.
