First woman to swim around Hong Kong’s Lantau Island defies her age
Open water swimmer Edie Hu shares how 10 years of endurance training helped her swim the 65km circumnavigation and set another record
“Youth is overrated” is a mantra empowering open water swimmer Edie Hu to break records at 50 years of age.
They were all attempting a world-first: no one had managed to circumnavigate the island before.
A 12-strong support crew spread across a sailing boat, kayaks and a safety RIB (rigid inflatable boat) set off with them for the 65km (40.4-mile) swim. Together, they were racing the tides as much as the clock.
It was the longest swim she had ever attempted, just two weeks after a 45km crossing of Hawaii’s Moloka’i Channel. On November 7, she became the first woman to complete the crossing from Sandy Beach on O’ahu to Moloka’i Island, finishing in 16 hours 9 minutes.