Swimmer-duo breaks world record by covering Alcatraz to San Francisco for 1000th time

Two men have successfully swum for the 1000 th time from Alcatraz Island to San Francisco in 40 minutes breaking the official world record.

Open water swimmers Gary Emich and Steven Hurwitz have paved their ways through a 1.5 mile route across the bay in the icy cold waters off Alcatraz Island, the New York Daily News reports.

According to the report, the temperature in the Bay was about 54 degrees when Emich and Hurwitz had made the dive.

Hurwitz said that the ebb tide had threatened to push the swimmers off course but the swimmers made it through as after jumping in, the divers made a commitment to themselves that they will have to pass through the waters.

The divers hold records for crossing the Bay during riptide currents and both are experienced swimmers, where Hurwitz had managed a round-trip crossing in just 56 minutes and Emich explored the waters of the Amazon River, Loch Ness in Scotland, Lake Titicaca in Peru and the Cave of the Indians in Cuba.

The Alcatraz Island used to house some dangerous criminals out of which 36 prison inmates who had tried to escape, only six could make it out of the waters alive.