Mad Swimmer

The Madswimmer story is one of great friendships, adventure, daring bets and big hearts. What started off as a late winter night’s bet in a chalet on the French slopes in 2009 has sparked a group of brave individuals to embark on a series of incredible swims every year to raise funds for children in need … In 2009 Jean Craven and Tim Ziehl took a bet from their friends that they could swim across the Strait of Gibraltar, linking Europe with Africa. So began Stage One and they completed the 17 km crossing from Spain to Morocco in just 4 hours and 22 minutes. Feeling sorry for taking betting monies collected from their friends, they decided to donate the money to various children’s charities and orphanages and Madswimmer, a registered charity, was born. Celebrating 10 years in 2020, Madswimmer has gone from strength to strength, building a following of over 10000 fans on social media and a team of more than 400 swimmers from around the world. Since it’s inception, Madswimmer has raised over USD900000 for children’s charities.