24 Heures La Tuque
24-Hour Swim Relay in Aquatic Park in San Francisco Bay, California]]The 24 Heures La Tuque (or Le Marathon de 24 Heures de La Tuque or the La Tuque 24 Hour Marathon Swim) was a 24-hour 2-person professional marathon swimming relay competition held between 1965 and 1981 in La Tuque in Quebec, Canada. The race was envisioned by Mayor Gaston Fortin of Ville La Tuque at the request of Réjean Lacoursière.
24 Heures La Tuque was a non-stop relay with up to 20 two-person teams that ran from 3 p.m. Saturday to 3 p.m. Sunday. The race was staged in an egg-shaped Lac Louis (Lake Louie) in Quebec. The course was a one-third of a mile plus 11 feet that paralleled the shore so crowds of thousands cheered on the professional marathon swimmers day and night.
Participants[edit]
Some of the greatest marathon swimmers of that era competed in the race including John Kinsella, Paul Asmuth, Sandra Bucha, Bill Heiss, Gilles Potvin, James Kegley, Nabil El Shazly, Abdul Latif Abou Heif, and Rejean LaCoursiere.
La Tuque[edit]
La Tuque is a city located in north-central Quebec on the Saint-Maurice River, between Trois-Rivières and Chambord.
Legacy[edit]
24 Heures La Tuque inspired the modern-day 24 Hour Swim Relay in SF, organized by Suzie Dods in San Francisco's Aquatic Park.
1975 24 Heures La Tuque Results[edit]
1. Sandra Bucha + John Kinsella: 191 tours
2. Magdy Mandour + Marawan Ghazzawi: 181 tours
3. Maher Saleh + Marwan Saleh: 180 tours
4. Ossama Rashad + Amed Youssef: 177 tours
5. Jennifer Anderson + Richard Campion: 169 tours
6. James Stewart + Baher Hamid: 162 tours
7. Sahar Mansour + Diana Nyad: 161 tours
8. Jacques Fordham + Daniel Piché: 135 tours
9. Yvon Montpetit + Georges Blazy: 133 tours
10. Gilles Potvin + Raymond Cusson: 109 tours
Amateurs: Johanne Thomson + Jocelyn Dufort + Michael Dumond + Jean Boudreault: 180 tours
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