Ancient Seven Seas

The Ancient Seven Seas concept by David Rich was nominated for the 2019 WOWSA Awards in the World Open Water Swimming Offering of the Year category

noun - The Ancient Seven Seas are a series of seven marathon swims of at least 10 km in the Mediterranean Sea, Adriatic Sea, Aegean Sea, Black Sea, Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and North Sea

Inspiration

Lewis Pugh created and completed an ocean conservation awareness campaign called the Seven Swims in the Seven Seas for 1 Reason. Pugh swam seven marathon swims in the Mediterranean Sea (10 km course), Adriatic Sea (15 km course), Aegean Sea (10 km course), Black Sea (40 km course), Red Sea (15 km course), Arabian Sea (10 km course), and North Sea (100 km stage swim) that called global attention to the need to create additional Marine Protected Areas.
The concept of the Seven Seas has a long history although the names of those seas have varied over time and among cultures.
The Oceans Seven concept is well established among marathon swimmers.

2019 World Open Water Swimming Offering of the Year Nomination

David Rich’s Ancient Seven Seas concept was nominated for the 2019 World Open Water Swimming Offering of the Year award as follows:

The Oceans Seven is a difficult challenge that has attracted some of the world's foremost channel swimmers - only 18 have completed it to date. A new swim challenge, the Ancient Seven Seas offers a similar global concept with the goal of inspiring and expanding participation through more accessible marathon swims. At a minimum of 10 kilometers in each of the Ancient Seven Seas (Mediterranean Sea, Adriatic Sea, Aegean Sea, Black Sea, Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and North Sea), this unassisted solo challenge takes swimmers through the cradle of civilization with different cultures, religions and views. Lewis Pugh's original Seven Swims in the Seven Seas for 1 Reason, completed in 2014, was its inspiration. Swimmers can select and create their own preferred courses in the Seven Seas and do not necessarily need to be shore-to-shore or point-to-point. For building bridges with other cultures while interacting around a common love of the oceans and swimming; for creating a serious yet accessible marathon adventure, in terms of time and training, that enables more swimmers to participate; and for advancing the long history and concept of the Seven Seas, The Ancient Seven Seas challenge proposed by David Rich is a worthy nominee for the 2019 World Open Water Swimming Offering of the Year.

Ratification Requirements

The swims must be solo and unassisted (i.e., without aid to warmth, buoyancy or forward propulsion), although assisted swims (i.e., swum with wetsuits, snorkels, fins) can also be recognized.
Straight-line tangent distance must be a minimum of 10 km.
Swim must be tracked via GPS in order to prove the minimum distance is completed.
The courses do not need to be shore-to-shore courses or point-to-point courses.

Origin

First proposed and coined by David Rich in September 2019.

Honors

The Ancient Seven Seas was nominated for the 2019 World Open Water Swimming Offering of the Year by the World Open Water Swimming Association:

The Oceans Seven is a difficult challenge that has attracted some of the world's foremost channel swimmers - only 18 have completed it to date. A new swim challenge, the Ancient Seven Seas offers a similar global concept with the goal of inspiring and expanding participation through more accessible marathon swims. At a minimum of 10 kilometers in each of the Ancient Seven Seas (Mediterranean Sea, Adriatic Sea, Aegean Sea, Black Sea, Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and North Sea), this unassisted solo challenge takes swimmers through the cradle of civilization with different cultures, religions and views. Lewis Pugh's original Seven Swims in the Seven Seas for 1 Reason, completed in 2014, was its inspiration. Swimmers can select and create their own preferred courses in the Seven Seas and do not necessarily need to be shore-to-shore or point-to-point. For building bridges with other cultures while interacting around a common love of the oceans and swimming; for creating a serious yet accessible marathon adventure, in terms of time and training, that enables more swimmers to participate; and for advancing the long history and concept of the Seven Seas, The Ancient Seven Seas challenge proposed by David Rich is a worthy nominee for the 2019 World Open Water Swimming Offering of the Year.