Off the wire
• FLASH: AT LEAST 6 KILLED IN SOMALIA HOTEL BLAST -- POLICE  • Roundup: Afghan Taliban suffer casualties in northern Kunduz, gain ground in NE Badakhshan  • China to expand oldest Buddhist temple  • Summer storm causes damage, kills one in Netherlands  • Xiamen Airlines launches Xiamen-Amsterdam route  • 2nd LD Writethru: Female suicide bomber kills 15 in NE Nigeria market: police  • Across China: Nuns' modern life in Tibetan Buddhist nunnery  • Weather forecast for world cities -- July 26  • Chinese club sees second triumph at women's volleyball tournament in Vietnam  • 1st LD Writethru: Taliban set free 125 police after day of capturing: says official  
You are here: 　 Home

1,870 swim in Bosphorus Strait from Asia to Europe

Xinhua, July 26, 2015 Adjust font size:

Turkish swimmer Bertug Coskun won the 27th Bosphorus Cross-Continental Swimming Race in Istanbul on Sunday, featuring 1,870 swimmers in total.

Coskun finished the 6.5km race across Bosphorus in one hour and one minute. Turkish Emre Ozturk and Italian Claudio Gargaro came in second and third.

Turkish Nilay Erkal won women's race in one hour and four minutes. Turkish Deniz Gungoroglu and British Jessica Wooddisse finished the race in second and third.

A total of 1,870 swimmers from 49 countries, including Britain, China, Germany, Italy, Russia, Turkey and the United States, swam along Bosphorus Race which started on the Asian side of Istanbul and finished on the European side.

Among swimmers, British swimmer Adam Walker joined the race as an honorary guest.

During the race, Boshporus Strait was closed to the sea traffic for three hours for swimmers' safety.

Turkish coast guards also maintained the security during the race, which started 10a.m. local time.

Started in 1989 with 4 women and 64 men, the Bosphorus Cross-Continental Swimming Race gradually became an important tradition for swimmers from around the world. Endi