Toughest Thirteen
The Toughest Thirteen (T13) is a marathon swimming challenge1 consisting of the following solo swims:
| Swim |
Type |
First |
Region |
Route |
| Alenuihaha Channel |
channel |
1970 |
Pacific |
Min. 47km btw Hawaii (Big Island) and Maui |
| Angel Island |
island loop |
1984 |
US (west) |
Min. 16km loop around Angel Isl from Aquatic Park, San Francisco |
| Dál Riata Channel |
channel |
2012 |
UK/IRL |
Min. 21km btw Torr Head (N. Ireland) and Mull of Kintyre (Scotland) |
| Derwent River |
river |
1975 |
Aus/NZ |
34km btw New Norfolk and Tasman Bridges, Tasmania |
| False Bay |
bay |
1989 |
Africa |
Min. 33km across the mouth the bay, btw Rooi Els and Miller's Point |
| Fastnet Rock |
channel |
2011 |
UK/IRL |
Btw Fastnet Rock and Ireland @ Schull (15.6km), Mizen Head (18km), or Baltimore (21km) |
| Fehmarnbelt |
channel |
1939 |
Europe |
Min. 19km btw Fehmarn (Germany) and Lolland (Denmark) |
| Gulf of the Farallones |
channel |
1967 |
US (west) |
Btw the Farallon Isl and Calif. mainland (min. 33km) or the Golden Gate Br (48km) |
| Foveaux Strait |
channel |
1963 |
Aus/NZ |
Min. 29km btw Stewart Island and South Island, New Zealand |
| Strait of Juan de Fuca |
channel |
1955 |
US (west) |
Min. 17km btw Washington (USA) and British Columbia (Canada) |
| Monterey Bay |
bay |
1980 |
US (west) |
Min. 37km btw Santa Cruz and Monterey or Pacific Grove |
| Loch Ness |
lake |
1966 |
UK/IRL |
36km btw Fort Augustus and Loch End, Scotland |
| Lago Titicaca |
lake |
1991 |
LatAm |
Minimum 15km until canonical route established2 |
Leaderboard
To date, no one has completed more than three of these swims.
Three Complete
| Name | | | Alenui. | Angel Isl | Fehmarn Belt | Dal Riata | Derwent | False Bay | Fastnet | Foveaux | Farallon | J.d. Fuca | Monterey | Loch Ness | Titicaca |
| Sarah Thomas |
| |
- |
2019 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
2021 |
2015 |
|
| Joe Zemaitis |
| |
- |
2020 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
2020 |
2018 |
|
| John Zemaitis |
| |
- |
2020 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
2019 |
2018 |
|
Two Complete
- 1 The T13 was created by Evan Morrison in 2019 as an alternative to the Oceans Seven, focusing on extremely challenging and less known swim routes.
- 2 A canonical marathon swim route in Lago Titicaca has not yet been established. The only known Titicaca marathon was completed by Lynne Cox in 1991 - a coastal 15km route between Copacabana, Bolivia and Chimbo, Peru. To qualify for the T13, swimmers must complete a route of at least 15km. If a longer, cross-lake route is pioneered in the future, we may revise/raise the minimum standard for a T13-qualifying Titicaca swim.