Lelané Rossouw-Bancroft
Lelané Rossouw-Bancroft is a 40-year-old South African cold water swimmer and owner of Lanie-B-Cakes who currently lives in Delaware.
Contents
Open Water Swimming Career
Marathon Swimming
- Rossouw-Bancroft was the first open water swimmer who was the first to swim across Delaware Bay without a wetsuit. She succeeded on 11 September 2011 in 10 hours 22 minutes under rough conditions.
- She started with American Jason Malick, Suzanna Aguilar Dann and Jim Clifford in a 12.4-mile swim across Delaware Bay and was the first to overcome strong oncoming currents.
- She competed in the 15.1-mile Cape Circumnavigation Challenge around Cape May, New Jersey.
- She completed the 2.6-mile Cold Water Challenge in Fairfield, Connecticut in 2013 and the second Cold Water Classic in Connecticut on 3 May 2014.
Ice Swimming
- She is also a member of the International Ice Swimming Association and competed in the 2015 United States Winter Swimming Championships in Lake Memphremagog, Vermont.
- She was a member of the successful, unprecedented, 5-day Bering Strait Swim relay, a 53-mile (86 km) relay crossing from Cape Dezhnev in Chukotka, Russia, to Cape Prince of Wales in the state of Alaska, USA.
- She finished 5th in 200m freestyle, 4th in the 50m freestyle, 2nd in the 25m freestyle, and 2nd in the 100m freestyle at the United States Winter Swimming National Championships on 11 February 2018 at the New York City Aquarium Education Hall in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York.
History of the Cross Delaware Bay Swim
From the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper on June 26th, 1912: At daybreak next Sunday, Charles R. Durborow, a 29-year-old Philadelphia bank clerk, recognized by the London Times as one of the world’s best long-distance swimmers, will attempt the hardest swim in the world by trying to cross the Delaware Bay from Cape May to Cape Henlopen, which on account of the strong currents, will be equal to 40 miles in still water. This feat will require anywhere from 10 to 15 hours to accomplish. Captain F. R. Brewer of the Lewes Maritime Exchange, in a letter to Durborow has told him that “from all he has found out from those who claim to know all about it” the swim cannot be made on account of the swift tide in and out of the bay, but others say “if you can hold out long enough, start at half ebb tide, somewhere above Swell’s Point, to avoid the Cape May Shoals, you might make it.” The big bank clerk, who has been training all week at Atlantic City, says he has never been in better condition, but admits “he is only human and may not be able to battle the elements.” Durborow will be accompanied by Dr. J. K. Shell to look out for his physical condition, Billy Curwen, his coach, Captain Edward Burke, Atlantic Life Guard, will act as his pilot, James H. Sterrett of the Sporting Writers Association will be official reporter. Bankers Dave Carson of Central Trust, Ben Cloud of Philadelphia National and N. G. Wood of Provident Trust, and other admirers will make up the party who will follow the swimmer in a large power launch.
Apparently, Durborow succeeded in his attempt because it is mentioned a year later, on August 4th 1913 by the Boston Journal, when it reported that Durborow was giving up long-distance swimming:
Charles Durborow of the Philadelphia Swimming club, admitted by experts to be the greatest long-distance swimmer ever developed in the country, will seek no more laurels in grueling tests of aquatic endurance. He has had a brilliant career and no one has equaled his splendid performances. World swimming judges maintain that his Delaware Bay swim of 1912 — when he covered a shade under 20 miles, across tide, from Cape May, N.J., to Cape Henlopen, Del., in 14 hours and 13 minutes using the trudgen stroke all the way — stands out as the greatest bit of swimming ever done by man.
Wetsuit Swim Success
Paul Timmons swam across this stretch of water in July 2006 in a wetsuit from Cape May Point to Cape Henlopen.
Lelané's Course
Swimming as a traditionalist, Rossouw-Bancroft started from a point north of Cape May at Higbee Beach and landed south of Cape Henlopen in Rehobeth Beach.
Rossouw-Bancroft's swim route is posted here.
Ice Swim Attempt
Bering Strait Swim
Rossouw-Bancroft was a member of the successful, unprecedented, 5-day Bering Strait Swim relay, a 53-mile (86 km) relay crossing from Cape Dezhnev in Chukotka, Russia, to Cape Prince of Wales in the state of Alaska, USA.
1. Yuri Tsiganchuk, Blagoveshchensk, Russia
2. Yuri Myagkikh, Russia
3. Vladimir Chegorin, Russia
4. Maria Chizhova, Novosibirsk, Russia
5. Elena Guseva, Russia
6. Kieron Palframan, Cape Town, South Africa
7. Ram Barkai, Cape Town, South Africa
8. Jack Bright, UK
9. Vladimir Litvinov, Blagoveshchensk, Russia
10. Oksana Veklich, Blagoveshchensk, Russia
11. Aleksandr Jakovlev, Jelgava, Latvia
12. Matías Ola, Buenos Aires /Tucuman Argentina
13. Henri Kaarma, Tallinn, Estonia
14. Toomas Haggi, Tallinn, Estonia
15. Nuala Moore, Ireland
16. Anne Marie Ward, Donegal, Ireland
17. Claudia Rose, San Diego, USA
18. Toks Viviers, Cape Town, South Africa
19. Melissa O’Reilly (‘Mo’), Lambertville, New Jersey, USA
20. Ryan Stramrood, Cape Town, South Africa
21. Scott Lautman, Seattle, Washington, USA
22. Cristian Vergara, Santiago, Chile
23. Lelané Rossouw-Bancroft, Newark, Delaware, USA
24. Rafał Ziobro, Krakow, Poland
25. Andrew Chin, Cape Town, South Africa
26. Jackie Cobell, Tunbridge Wells, UK
27. Paul Duffield, West Kelowna, BC, Canada
Video
External links
- International Relay Swim Across The Bering Strait Official Website
- Bering Strait Swim
- Bering Strait Swim - Ice Bering
- Philadelphia Inquirer Article
- International Ice Swimming Association website
- International Ice Swimming Association website
- International Ice Swimming Association Facebook page
- The Who's Who Of Extremists Gather At Top Of World
- Do Ice Swimmers Have Bigger Brains?
- What Open Water Swim Could Be More Dangerous?
- Bering Strait Swim Succeeds
- Cape Circumnavigation Challenge Field Announced
- World Open Water Swimming Association
- Marathon Swimming
- Open Water Swimming
- Cold Water Training Turns Into Cold Water Challenge
- 2.6 Miles Of Cold Water Challenge
- Brad McVetta Crowned Cold Water Classic Champion
- The Why's Of Swimming In Really Cold Water
- Paula Yankauskas, Hardened Winter Swimmers Go 4 For 4
- United States Winter Swimming Association
- Malick's Marriage Marine-Style
- Freestyling Out Of The Wood Into The Ice
- International Ice Swimming Association website
- Ice Milers Around The Globe
