Enniskillen swimmer Hazlett Keers recently completed the Bosphorus Cross-Continental Swim Race – an open water swim event between Asia and Europe, which took place in Istanbul on Sunday, August 21.

This was Hazlett’s second swim between continents following his crossing of the legendary Hellespont in 2019, when he swam from the European to the Asian side of Turkey. 

“I thought it would be nice to cross the other way, and the Bosphorus swim from one side of Istanbul to the other is pretty spectacular,” said Hazlett, going on to comment that the swim, which he completed with 2,500 others from 53 countries, was a “wonderful experience”.

Although the Bosphorus swim continued to take place in 2020 and 2021, international participation in the event had been deferred for two years due to lockdown.

“It was clear that this was my last chance to do it, so I was very glad to have the opportunity,” said Hazlett, noting that the swim was a memorable event with the participants swimming the 6.5km route from the Asian to the European side of Istanbul under the enormous Bosphorus suspension bridge.

“It’s one of the busiest international shipping lanes in the world, and, as with the Hellespont swim, once a year the swimmers have two hours to get across before the shipping is let through again,” he explained.

Waiting at the start, an elderly Ukrainian man saw Hazlett’s Ukraine swim hat and approached him to wish him good luck, having assumed that he was a fellow-countryman. 

“I explained that I was Irish and he quickly told me in very broken English that he had been living in Kildare for three months as a refugee from the conflict in his homeland! Some 20 minutes later, he waved a cheery hello in the water as he swam past me,” said Hazlett.

Hazlett managed to complete the course in an hour and 21 minutes, a time which would have been a little better had he not been distracted at the finish by the sight of thousands of swimmers completing the course, and forgetting to step on the automatic timer mat.

However, he says he didn’t mind, that “survival was the objective!”