U.K. marathon swimmer Ross Edgley’s 510-kilometre swim down the Yukon River isn’t officially a record – at least not yet.

According to the Daily News of Open Water Swimming, Edgley did the epic swim over 2 ½ days between June 16 and 18.

The non-stop swim lasted 54 hours and 45 minutes.

According to Tim Vlasto of the World Open Water Swimming Association (WOWSA), “Ross Edgley’s Yukon River swim does not qualify as an official open-water swimming record, due to the use of a wetsuit.”

Clarification on Edgley’s swim from WOWSA can be found in this WOWSA blog (openwaterswimming.com/clarification-on-ross-edgleys-yukon-river-swim-not-an-official-open-water-swimming-record).

However, Edgley’s swim is pending ratification by Guinness World Records.

According to Edgley, all the videos, witness statements and co-ordinates are currently with Guinness World Records to ratify his swim as a world record.

Guinness World Records currently lists Martin Strel as the record holder for the longest distance swimming non-stop. He swam 504.5 kilometres on the Danube River from Melk, Austria, to Paks, Hungary, on July 3-6, 2001, in 84 hours, 10 minutes.

Contrary to what was reported in an earlier story in The Yukon Star, there were no Guinness World Records personnel on the expedition. 

Regarding the epic swim, Edgley told the Star in an email, “WHAT A SWIM! The Yukon is an INCREDIBLE part of the world.

“Not just because I was able to swim past bears, moose and wolves, but the people are some of the kindest, bravest and most badass I’ve ever met.

“Worth stressing is (that) this swim wouldn’t have been possible without the heroics of the support team who live and work on the river and were able to navigate me safely past rapids, rocks, fallen trees and wildlife that (sometimes) wasn’t friendly.”

Liam Parfitt was in one of the support boats for the journey. “It was long,” he said. 

Parfitt said there were four boats accompanying Edgley on his journey.

“It was pretty light and easy, at first, and it proceeded to get heavier and heavier and longer, and the intensity of the decisions that were being made progressively got more heavy as we pressed towards the end, because he’s in mortal danger, basically, at the end of the swim.” 

Parfitt said the danger increased for Edgley as he passed the White River. 

“The water gets pretty murky. He’s in a wetsuit, not a life jacket. So (if) he passes out and goes under the White River, where is he? He’s gone.”

American swimming coach Chris Morgan escorted Edgley down the river in a kayak.

Parfitt described Edgley’s endeavour as “quite a remarkable journey of science, and sort of brute-headed stubbornness.

“He’s put together quite a good team, and you can tell that he loves what he’s doing. But underneath all of that, it’s underpinned by this refusal to give up.” 

Parfitt said Edgley started hallucinating toward the end of the swim.

“When you haven’t been asleep for 50 hours-plus, you start to lose your way.”

Parfitt said Edgley was “mostly just doing his best to stay awake. He has to swim to stay warm; he’s so tired.

“Nothing really makes sense at that point in the journey. And the support crew’s all completely exhausted, too, so you’re trying to navigate through a team of people who haven’t slept for 2 ½ days.

“It ends up getting a little bit intense.” 

Parfitt was following Edgley and had to feed him as he made his way down the river.

“Every half an hour, we’d have to approach Ross and give him something to eat.” 

Edgley had a doctor, his wife and brother deciding what to feed him. 

He was given a water bottle with warm water mixed with powdered materials like chicken noodle soup. Parfitt said Edgley was also given electrolytes or “pretty much anything that would be giving him some kind of nutrition.”

The water bottle was on a rope, so when Edgley was done, he would just throw it in the water. 

Edgley had a particularly tough time staying warm in the early-morning hours.

Parfitt figured Edgley was swimming hard about 90 per cent of the time, only slowing down to feed himself, which took only about 90 seconds.

Parfitt said he could tell that Edgley’s team had been working together for a long time. 

“What was interesting was the mix of various Yukon locals, and the uncertainty about how much longer he could go. Because you’re pushing the boundaries of every layer of human determination.

“You just don’t know when he’s gonna pass out — or die, for that matter. Because when he comes out of the water, his blood pressure drops right away.

“It’s a very, very, very high-risk moment for the first hour when he comes out of the water, where he can go into cardiac arrest.”

Parfitt said he’s never participated in something like this before.

Edgley was given a steady dose of caffeine and Tylenol to help keep him going. They also had to repair tears in his wetsuit, along the way, on the go.

Parfitt said Edgley was pretty stoked when he finally came out of the water. 

“He was a surprisingly optimistic and positive person, right to the end. But I think (if) you have to be able to stay in the water that long; you have to really control your emotions.” 

Parfitt summed up the experience as “surreal.”

Asked if he and the experience as “surreal.”

Asked if he and the other Yukoners thought Edgley was a little crazy, Parfitt replied, “Oh, yeah. But I like crazy.”