Halkidiki Toroneos Crossing

Back in July 1971, a bunch of young people, as a result of  a vigorous exchange of opinions on the feasibility of a daring crossing of Toroneos Gulf,  plunged into the waters of Nikiti beach and, after a whole day's swimming without any safety measures, came out to Kallithea beach (on the Kassandra peninsula), some 25 kilometers / 15.5 miles away.  There, on the fine sand beach, the whole of their village waited for them to appear, filled with agony because of the bad weather conditions of the day.  When they did show up, it was obvious that this spontaneous daring decision would establish an extreme sports event.

The year after, the crossing was repeated, with a lot more entries.  "Sithon," a sports club, was established to better organize the event, and the third Toroneos Crossing started from Kallithea, with a lot of precautionary measures, small motorboats, the coast guard, as well as military marine vessels, and 2000 enthusiastic followers of the 23 participants.  Seven of them reached Nikiti.

The peak of this successful event was reached during the 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th crossings, with the participation of swimmers from abroad as well, and a two-day feast organized and supported by local culture clubs and athletic unions.  The special thing about it was that every participant was considered a winner (the beauty of pure athleticism), and without the commercial trappings that some athletic events attract.  This is an event that the local youth want to share with you.

After so many years of successful repetitions of the event, the Hellenic (Greek) state recognized the importance of the Toroneos Gulf Crossing, and included it under the support of the General Secretary of Athletics.

Notes: Paparnakis Thanasis has the record of the most successful marathons, and the record of distance: he did the marathon twice, starting at 23:00 (from Nikiti), finished in Afito, Kassandra, when the rest of the swimmers started and continued back to Nikiti with them.

Bogian Tsingi (from Serbia) has the record of the Toroneos Marathon, with 5 hours and 27 minutes, and Thanasis Paparnakis with 5 hours 29 minutes in the 28th Toroneos Marathon.

Xanthopoulos Thanasis has the most participations in Swimming Marathons, 24 times so far, and has finished 17 times.

Sharon Luke (from the USA), who is blind, succeeded to swim across guided by his trainer Frank Will through the use of microphones.