Kerala - Kannur   

Swimming without strokes

KANNUR: Ratheesh R. Cheriyazheekal earned entry in the in the Limca Book of Records for his daredevil swimming. On Sunday, he demonstrated his prowess, off the Payyamblam beach here, by swimming against the current with his hands and legs tied.

Mr. Ratheesh was taken in a boat in the afternoon from Payyambalam. He was accompanied by organisers of the event, mediapersons and life guards. Rescue and health emergency facilities too were arranged in four boats.

At some distance from the coast, Mr. Ratheesh’s hands and legs were tied and he was lowered into the sea.

Six life guards swam with him back to the beach. Mr. Ratheesh, performing for the first time in Kannur, had tried this trick for the first time in 2002, when he covered the distance from the Neendakara bridge to the estuary in Kollam.

In 2003, he swam for nearly one km in the Ashtamudi backwaters.

After many similar displays of adventure in different parts of the State, he hoisted the Tricolour at sea on August 15, 2008, and booked his place in the Limca Book of Records in 2009.

P. Karunakaran, MP, flagged off the performance on the Payyambalam beach. It was organised by the Kerala Tourism Life Guard Employees’ Union, a forum affiliated to the Centre for Indian Trade Unions. CITU State president K.P. Sahadevan presided.

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