75-Year-Old Bill Durell Swims 4000 Yards Across Seven Events In Single-Day Meet

Bill Durell, a 75-year-old Masters swimmer known for taking on difficult challenges, covered an incredible 4,000 yards of swimming in competition earlier this month.

On March 7 at the Swimming Up the River City meet in Mason City, Iowa, Durell completed six individual events as follows:

With his individual events totaling 3,950 yards, Durell also swam the 50 free as a member of the Minnesota Masters’ 200 free relay, bringing him to a grand total of 4,000.

Durell hopes this effort will motivate others to accomplish the feat.

“This is a rare opportunity for swimmers to set a record that cannot be exceeded, as 3,950 yards is the maximum distance allowed by a six-individual-event, single-day meet,” he said. “However, other technical-category records may be established by adding relays to your agenda, establishing fastest age-group total elapsed time, or becoming the oldest male or female to replicate it.”

“Who will accept the challenge?” Durell asks.

The first time Durell swam a 3,950-yard meet was at the age of 68, at the Chula Vista, CA meet on April 14, 2019.

“In the mutual fund industry, a shareholder like me would be referred to as a ‘value investor’. That is, one who invests in funds that maximize long-term returns, yet have the lowest expense ratios,” he said.

“Transferring this metric to competitive swimming, let’s call this the ‘distance-per-dollar’ ratio. In other words, what is the maximum distance you can swim for every dollar ‘invested’ in meet entry fees? Otherwise known as Meets on the Cheaps.”