The longest open-water swim competition in the southern hemisphere is back after a three-year hiatus brought on by the COVID-19 global pandemic. 

The Apolima Strait competition, which was originally scheduled for 28 March 2020, is now set for this Thursday starting at 6 am with two swimmers registered to compete. 

Swimmers, Spanish Ruth Marinosa and Samuel Muir-James from New Zealand will swim the 22.3 km course from Mulifanua wharf on Upolu to the Salelologa wharf in Savai’i. They will need to do it within 10 hours.

In an interview with the Samoa Observer, the Director of Samoa Events and the competition organiser, Seti Afoa, said he is excited for the swimmers despite having only two for the race.

“The break-even for us is probably 3 or 4 swimmers. This one here is a little bit of a loss, but it’s okay,” said Afoa.

Afoa said he did not want to cancel any more events and wanted to showcase to other people, in the future where possible, he will continue to put on the events.   

On Tuesday morning, Afoa and the team took the two swimmers for their warm-up swim to the island of Manono. He said he thinks both swimmers will swim about 3 km an hour on the day. 

“The most challenging part of the course is between Apolima and Salelologa. There's always a no-go zone in that part of the swim, where swimmers will feel they are not going anywhere,” added Afoa. 

In relation to safety precautions for the swimmers, Afoa said that there would be a police boat, a referee boat, and two kayaks, all with radios on board, and emphasised that they will be as safe as they can be with both having no major incidents in the past 7 years.

Preparations are underway for the Pacific Open Water Championships and the Samoa Swim Series scheduled for late July and early August this year.

Afoa said that the rest of the people that were meant to come for the Apolima Strait are now focusing on those short course swims. Both swimmers will swim in just togs and cannot rely on anything floating while swimming through the channel.