Mihir Sen

Mihir Sen was inducted as an (Honor Swimmer in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in the Class of 1966

Photo from the Sam Rockett collection shows the swimmers of the 1956 Butlin's International Cross-Channel Swimming Race including 1 Jack McClelland (32 from Belfast), 2 Jack Cloutier (24) Canada, 3 Dogan Sahin (25 from Turkey), 4 Ronald Tarr (19 from London), 5 Clarence Conza (33 from New Zealand), 6 Ian Tirrell (33 from South Africa), 7 Erik Martin (53 from Sweden), 8 Jenny James (28 from Wales), 9 Maria Meesters (17 from Holland), 10 Baptista Pereira (35 from Portugal), 11 Margaret Sweeney (26 from New Zealand), 12 Greta Anderson (29 from Denmark), 13 Elizabeth Wild (22 from New Zealand), 14 Florence Burdett (27 from America), 15 Diana Cleverley (22 from New Zealand), 16 Brenda Fisher (28 from Grimsby), 17 Thomas Park (32 from California), 18 Harold Bracewell (47 from Blackpool), 19 Edward (Ned) Barnie (59 from Scotland), 20 Arthur Rizzo (28 from Malta), 21 Mohammed El Soussi (28 from Syria), 22 Fredrick Oldman (40 from Huddersfield). 23 Mihir Zen (27 from India), 24 Alfredos Camarero (25 from Argentina). Toufic Bleik (25 from Lebanon), Kurt Feilen (30 from Germany), John Healey (29 from Ireland), and Edna Borenstein (19 from Israel) are not included in the photo

Mihir Sen (মিহির সেন) (16 November 1930 - 11 June 1997) from India was a barrister and open water swimmer from India.

Awards and Honors

Sen was awarded the Padma Shree in 1959 by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Padma Bhushan in 1966 by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

He was inducted in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame as an Honor Swimmer in its Class of 1966.
In 1958, Sen became the first Indian to swim 33.5 km across the English Channel from England to France on 27 September 1958 in 14 hours 45 minutes Channel after failing on his first attempt in 1955.
He distinguished himself by crossing six major straits in 1966:
- the 59 km Palk Strait from Ceylon (now Valvettithurai, Sri Lanka) to Point Calimere, India in 25 hours 44 minutes on 5-6 April 1966.
- the 14.4 km Strait of Gibraltar between Spain and Morocco in 8 hours 1 minutes on 24 August 1966, starting at Cires Point at the age of 36.
- 51.5 km across the length of the Dardanelles from Gallipoli in the Sea of Marmara to Sendulbahir, Turkey in the Aegean Sea in 13 hours 55 minutes on 12 September 1966.
- 50 miles across the length of the Panama Canal from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean in 35 hours 30 minutes to become a member of the 24-hour club.
- 25.7 km across the Bosphorus (Istanbul Strait) in Turkey in 4 hours on 21 September 1966.
Length of Panama Canal, 50 miles from Cristobal in the Atlantic Ocean to Balboa in the Pacific Ocean in a 34 hour 15 minute 2-day stage swim between 29-31 October 1966