A 16km open sea challenge is not something many kids at the age of 14 would think of attempting.  This challenge, however, is set to become a benchmark with Gaurvi taking the plunge.

Gaurvi Singhvi, a student of class VIII from Delhi Public School, Udaipur has made her maiden attempt at a 16 km open sea swim in the Mumbai waters and succeeded!  Gaurvi swam the distance from Governor House to Gateway of India, becoming the first girl to do so on this particular route.

Gaurvi also beat the precious record of 16km Open Water swim which was of 4hrs and 12 minutes. Gaurvi is the first girl to swim this route.  Bhakti Sharma, again from Udaipur had clocked 4hrs and 15 minutes at the age of 14.  Gaurvi clocked 3hrs 58 min and 15 seconds to complete the route – making her the fastest on this route.  So we have a prodigy in the making.

The route has been certified by the Maharashtra State Amateur Aquatic Association, affiliated to Sports Federation of India.  This is a new route and is set to get her name into the Limca Book of Records for this effort.

Gaurvi, who has been practising rigorously at Fatehsagar for the last two years to prepare herself for this attempt, is a State Swimming champion and is ranked 11th in the All India Ranking by the Sports Federation of India.  She had done a 20km swim at Fatehsagar on 11th March, before leaving for Mumbai, where she practised consistently over the week before attempting her record swim today.  She has bagged the Gold Medal at the State level for the last two years and has been District Champion for the last three years.

According to her trainer Mahesh Paliwal, Gaurvi looks forward to completing the English Channel, for which has practised all of last winter.

Shubh and Abhishek, Gaurvi’s parents admitting this to be one their proudest moments, were excited about Gaurvi’s next challenge. “Gaurvi will now attempt the 36 km swim at one go from the sea link to Gateway of India on 26th March“, said Shubh.