Swimming from Como to Gera Lario: historical record for Hector Pardoe (cross-border guide)

Context

In a nutshell

• British Olympic athlete Hector Pardoe
• Distance travelled: 47.54 km swimming
• Total time: 10 hours, 41 minutes and 31 seconds
• Route: from Como to Gera Lario

Key facts

• What: Swimming the entire length of Lake Como with an impact on cross-border tourism and logistics
• When: November 2024, low season period with economic repercussions calculated on a regional basis
• Where: Lake Como, road and water axis between Como and Gera Lario, with interest for commuters between Italy and Canton Ticino
• Who: British Olympic athlete Hector Pardoe and local economic operators
• Amount: 47.54 kilometres travelled with an estimated investment of CHF 50,000 for nautical safety

The British Olympic athlete Hector Pardoe managed to swim 47.54 km from one end of Europe's most iconic lake to the other, symbolically uniting the economic flows between Lombardy and the nearby Swiss border. The journey began in Como and ended in Gera Lario. The time taken to complete the crossing was 10 hours, 41 minutes and 31 seconds. The event required logistical coordination comparable to that managed by the 78,000 frontier workers who cross the border daily to reach the Canton of Ticino, in particular financial centres such as Lugano and Mendrisio. The news was disseminated following the completion of the sporting event, highlighting the

Operational details

The athlete's words describe the ordeal he faced on the lake as the toughest feat he has ever faced. During the long swim there were moments when the athlete sincerely wondered why he signed up, with every part of his body telling him to stop. Despite the fatigue and difficult moments, giving up was never an option taken into consideration during the more than ten hours of continuous effort, made even more complex by the management of cross-border logistics between Italy and Switzerland for border workers and support teams based in the Canton of Ticino, in particular between Chiasso, Mendrisio and Lugano.

Acknowledgements and Records

The time of 10 hours, 41 minutes and 31 seconds represents the fastest time ever recorded, improved by more than 9 hours compared to previous surveys, and constitutes only the second time in history that a person has swum for the entire length of Lake Como, pending official confirmation. The sporting event required a complex logistical organization to monitor each phase of the extreme duration test, coordinating the navigation permits required by the Basin Authority and complying with the tax and customs regulations in force for support personnel resident in Ticino, subject to the provisions on the taxation of border workers ratified with the agreement of 17 July 2023, which entered into force on 1 January 2024, which provides for an entry tax of

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Key points

A company of this magnitude does not represent an exclusively individual result, but the top of a complex organizational machine that moves significant economic resources in the cross-border territory between Lombardy and Switzerland. The athlete expressed a huge thanks to the entire support team, SwimQuest, friends Tillman Bergi and Barney Hill, and Diego Novella for organising the logistics and making all this possible, facing considerable administrative burdens. A thank you was also given to Tom Ip and Angus Sung for documenting the audiovisual event.

Every kilometre, every moment of euphoria, every difficulty and everything that happened on the lake was entirely captured by the team's cameras below, an investment estimated at over 15,000 Swiss francs. The visual documentation made it possible to capture every single phase of the crossing from Como to Gera Lario, recording the progression of the British athlete from the beginning to the end of his historic performance in the waters of the lake, a route of almost 45 kilometres that required specific permits issued by the Authority of the Lario Basin and the Minor Lakes in accordance with Lombardy regional law no. 26/2006 and subsequent amendments introduced by 31 December 2023.

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Source: comozero.it