Former international swimmer, Elvis Ali Hazarika is all set to cross the North Irish Channel and the English Channel.
Currently a channel swimmer, Elvis is going to make attempts to swim both the channels in the year 2022 and 2023 respectively.
Elvis aims to cross the North Irish Channel with his relay partner Rimo Saha.
The North Irish Channel is approximately 42 kilometres in length and the channel swimmer from Assam aims to cross the distance within the time limit of 12 to 16 hours.
Hazarika was given the slot on 17 to 22 September, 2022. The talented channel swimmer aims to start his journey from Donaghadi (Northern Ireland) Pand finish at the Portaptrick (Scotland).
Moreover, he also aims to attempt and cross the English Channel, in London in the year 2023.
This will be Elvis Ali Hazarika’s second attempt to cross the English Channel. For crossing the English Channel, Alvis has been given a time slot on June 22 and June 23, 2021. He plans to cross the 36 kilometers in an estimated time duration of 12 to 14 hours.
He will start his journey from the Samphire Hoe Beach and end his journey at the Calais point, Spain.
Elvis was also the first swimmer from Assam to cross the Catalina Channel in the United States of America in the year 2019.
He began swimming across the Catalina Channel from the US and reached Mexico covering a distance of 80 kilometres in 10 hours and 59 minutes.
If Elvis Ali Hazarika becomes successful in crossing both the channels, he will become the first channel swimmer from Assam to achieve such a feat.
Hazarika planned to cross the channels in the year 2020, however due to the ongoing Covid 19 pandemic , he was barred from swimming.
The swimmer from Assam also mentioned that crossing the North Irish Channel and the English Channel will not be an easy task as temperature tends to drop to 6 – 10 degree celsius.
Speaking about the total expenditure, Elvis mentioned that an attempt to cross a channel costs around Rs. 7 to 9 lakhs. Moreover, due to the Covid 19 pandemic, the Assamese swimmer had to pay around 700 pounds for cancellation of dates.
Hazarika has decided to dedicate his attempt to swim to all the Covid 19 warriors of the country.
Elvis also urged the people of Assam to support channel swimming.