Mumbai witnesses the rise of new swim heroes

The Happy Heroes(L To R): Aditya Bharadwaj (15), Tanuja Barve (14),Nachiket Waghmare (11) and Atharwa Mohite (10)

8 February 2014, Mumbai: Mumbai witnessed the rise of new heroes yesterday morning as four youngsters from the city in the age group of 10-15 years, swam a stretch of 25.7 kilometres, in 6 hours. A first attempt for all the four gallant heroes, the young team of swimmers dived into the sea at the Vashi Jetty at 5:45 a.m. and emerged at the Gateway of India between 11:20 a.m. and 12:32 p.mafter completing their swim through the pleasant tides of the Arabian Sea. They were lead for the first 200 metres by coach Santosh Patil, after which the oldest member Aditya Bharadwaj, led the team to the finish.

Supported by leading international swimwear brand Speedo, the four swimmers, Tanuja Barve (14), Aditya Bharadwaj, (15), Atharwa Mohite (10) and Nachiket Waghmare (11), completed this great feat after having undergone extensive training under the mentorship and strong guidance of Santosh Patil and Sanket Sawant. Having been flagged off by Mr. Sandeep Naik, MLA Navi Mumbai at the Vashi Jetty in the morning, they were welcomed and felicitated by Mr. Sagar Naik, Mayor, NMMC.

Expressing his delight on completing the swim, Mumbai’s youngest sea-swimmer, 10-year-old Atharwa Mohite, said “We trained very hard for the last three months for this one day, and I am very happy to have finished. The experience was a lot of fun and I now look forward to training to compete in even longer distances. The open water is exciting and I look forward to conquering it again in the future.” Atharwa’s ambitions are matched by those of lead swimmer, Aditya Bharadwaj, who on completion of his swim, set himself a new goal of attempting to swim from Dharamtar Port to the Gateway of India in Mumbai.

Veteran swimmer and renowned Mumbaikar, Santosh Patil, commenting on the achievement of his young stars said “This was a mammoth task and a very difficult challenge for four little children to set for themselves. I am extremely proud of them for having faith in themselves and achieving this remarkable feat. It is an extremely satisfying feeling to see their hard work and dedication pay off and and hope that these young swimmers continue performing well with time. We are also thankful to the Team at Speedo for their encouragement and support, as recognition such as this from international brands is a huge confidence booster to both the participants and the parents.”