Maarten van der Weijden. Ever heard of him? If you haven’t, you better learn it now! He’s a Dutch long-distance marathon swimmer and cancer survivor. He’s attempting to swim the ‘Elfstedentocht’, a 196 km swim which is usually used for ice-skating. He’s doing this to raise money for cancer research and has already raised 2.7 million euros.
Feat pic: By Lizanne Ganzevles (@Lizanganz -twitter)
Everyone’s cheering him on, are you?
Maarten van der Weijden nu voorbij Dokkum en op koers voor een waanzinnige prestatie. Veel succes @mvdweijden met de laatste zware dag van jouw #11Stedenzwemtocht voor het goede doel. Heel Nederland zwemt vandaag met jou mee! ?♂️
— Mark Rutte (@MinPres) June 24, 2019
Daar gaan ze, onderweg om Maarten te gaan supporten. Succes van der Weijden, de boeren staan aan je zijde!! #11Stedenzwemtocht pic.twitter.com/On6zjGQmNz
— Boer Bewust (@boerbewust) June 23, 2019
Van der Weijden’s second attempt
He started his journey on Friday afternoon and is now at Burdaard. He finishes the race at Leeuwarden and is expected to reach there in a few hours. What makes this even more interesting than it already is, is that this will be his second attempt at doing this. Last time, he got sick in between his swim and was unable to finish it. But this time, it seems to be going well! He has only 20 km to go and already raised 2.7 million euros for cancer research.
TRULY ADMIRABLE!
Maarten van der Weijden @mvdweijden has raised more 1.4million euro for #CancerResearch! If everything goes well he would have completed 196km of swimming this evening! #11stedenzwemtocht https://t.co/hen0JOjNaB— Dolores Romero Morales (@DoloresRomeroM) June 24, 2019
Dutch olympic long distance swimmer ánd cancer survivor @mvdweijden will finish his 196 kilometer- swim tonight and raised over 1.4 million for cancer research. I am amazed, he is a true hero. https://t.co/KYiV6wspr9
— Ingeborg Bennink (@BenninkIngeborg) June 24, 2019
Do you want to follow his journey to see him come up for air, and swim his way into everyone’s hearts? Don’t miss out on NOS’s live stream so that you can join in on this joyous and exhilarating experience! Cheer him on as he finishes the final leg of the swim.
Everyone loves a feel-good story like this one, don’t we? Van der Weijden was swimming through eleven cities over the weekend. What did you do? 😉
