Maya Merhige, a 17-year-old American swimmer, braved through the pain during a 27-mile swim across the Cook Strait in New Zealand.
Shortly after completing her journey, Merhige told CNN that she was “constantly” being stung by jellyfish during the swim — so much so that she “eventually stopped counting” the stings.
According to the Marathon Swimmers Federation, swimmers are required to wear swimsuits, not wetsuits, in open water solo swims for their performance to be official. That left Merhige’s body largely exposed and getting jellyfish stings, “Constantly, like 25 times a minute – over and over,” she told the outlet. “Even when I was getting in the water, I was already like: ‘I’m so scared. I don’t want to see jellyfish.”
“So the entire time I was just fighting myself mentally to kind of get over that fear,” added Merhige, who prefers to swim at night because the darkness keeps her focused. Of the jellyfish, she told CNN, “If I can’t see them, I really just tell myself: out of sight, out of mind. They’re not there if you can’t see them, so I just pretend it’s not happening, which does help me shut my mind off a little bit.”
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Merhige was guided by a support boat during the journey across the Cook Strait, taking consistent breaks in swimming every 30 minutes, per CNN. Because of rough conditions in the water during her swim, Merhige needed to swim 27 miles over more than 14 hours instead of the 13.7 miles over seven hours she initially planned for.
Chris Merhige and Kelly Gentry for Swim Across America
Maya Merhige swims via Instagram
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“But, I’m hugely proud that I was able to push myself both physically and mentally enough to make it across Cook Strait, swimming 27 miles in 14 hours and 8 minutes,” Merhige wrote on Instagram after the swim.
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“I am so grateful to my crew who flew from CA and WY (I love you always) and to my crew with @katabaticcharters who shuttled me safely across and never doubted me.”
Merhige went on announce her swim raised $33,000 for pediatric cancer research and patient care. She concluded her caption: “This brings my lifetime total to over $150,000. This is literally changing medicine and I am so grateful to be a part of it.”
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