Basel Rhine Swim

Last updated

The Basel Rhine Swim is a public sporting event in the city of Basel in Switzerland. The participants swim in or float on the Rhine river from the banks at the Minster down to the lower Rhine banks for up to fifteen minutes. [1]

During their swim they are escorted and watched by watercraft and lifeguards. The whole distance is about 1.8 kilometers long.

Rhine swimming in Basel is an annual event since 1980 and it always takes place on the first Tuesday after the school holidays in summer. (The alternative date is one week afterwards). It is organized by the city's department of the Swiss Lifesaving Association (SLRG). It starts at 6 p.m. at the Minster ferry on the river strands. For this special event the shipping traffic is usually stopped. The number of participants reaches from a few hundreds to several thousands of swimmer. [2]

In the summer of 2003, roughly 5000 people took part. In 2007, however, the event was cancelled because of extreme flooding.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Basel</span> City in Switzerland

Basel, also known as Basle, is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine. Basel is Switzerland's third-most-populous city, with 177,595 inhabitants within the city municipality limits. The official language of Basel is German, and the main spoken language is the local Basel German dialect.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhine</span> Major river in Western Europe

The Rhine is one of the major European rivers. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein, Swiss-Austrian, and Swiss-German borders. After that the Rhine defines much of the Franco-German border, after which it flows in a mostly northerly direction through the German Rhineland. Finally in Germany, the Rhine turns into a predominantly westerly direction and flows into the Netherlands where it eventually empties into the North Sea. It drains an area of 9,973 sq km and its name derives from the Celtic Rēnos. There are also two German states named after the river, North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geography of Switzerland</span>

The geography of Switzerland encompasses the geographical features of Switzerland, a mountainous and landlocked country located in Western and Central Europe. Switzerland's natural landscape is marked by its numerous lakes and mountains. It is surrounded by five countries: Austria and Liechtenstein to the east, France to the west, Italy to the south and Germany to the north. Switzerland has a maximum north–south length of 220 kilometres (140 mi) and an east–west length of about 350 kilometres (220 mi).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Upper Rhine</span> Section of the Rhine in Germany and Switzerland

The Upper Rhine is the section of the Rhine between Basel in Switzerland and Bingen in Germany, surrounded by the Upper Rhine Plain. The river is marked by Rhine-kilometres 170 to 529.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Basel-Stadt</span> Canton of Switzerland

Basel-Stadt or Basel-City is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of three municipalities with Basel as the capital. It is traditionally considered a "half-canton", the other half being Basel-Landschaft, its rural counterpart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swimming at the 1980 Summer Olympics</span>

Swimming as usual was one of the three aquatics disciplines at the 1980 Summer Olympics—the other two being Water Polo and Diving. It was held in the Swimming Pool of the Olimpiysky Sports Complex between July 20 and July 27. There was a total of 333 participants from 41 countries competing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walls of Basel</span> Series of fortifications surrounding the center of Basel, Switzerland

The Basel city walls are a complex of walls surrounding the central part of the Swiss city of Basel, only partially preserved today. The first city wall was completed around 1080 under bishop Burkhard von Fenis. A newer wall was constructed around 1230, which is known as the Inner Wall. Its course was mostly identical to the Burkhard wall. In 1362 the construction of a larger wall complex began due to the city's expansion; it was completed in 1398, and is known as the Outer Wall. In 1859 the city's executives decided to raze the inner wall and gates to the ground. Three outer city gates and a short piece of the wall were saved from demolition and are being preserved as part of the city's heritage.

Rheinfelden is a municipality in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland, seat of the district of Rheinfelden. It is located 15 kilometres east of Basel. The name means the fields of the Rhine, as the town is located on the High Rhine. It is home to Feldschlösschen, the most popular beer in Switzerland. The city is across the river from Rheinfelden in Baden-Württemberg; the two cities were joined until Napoleon Bonaparte fixed the Germany–Switzerland border on the Rhine in 1802 and are still socially and economically tied.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Birsig</span> River in France and Switzerland

The Birsig is a rather small river in eastern France and northern Switzerland. Its source is in the village Biederthal, in the French Haut-Rhin department, near the Swiss border. The Birsig is about 21 kilometres (13 mi) long, and its watershed area is about 82 square kilometres (32 sq mi). It flows variably through Swiss and French territory and through the Birsig Valley. Afterwards it passes the city of Basel, where it enters the Rhine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swimming at the 1968 Summer Olympics</span>

The swimming competitions at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City took place from 17 to 26 October at the Alberca Olímpica Francisco Márquez. Swimming featured a record total of 29 events. There was a total of 468 participants from 51 countries competing. The United States dominated the competition, winning 52 of 87 possible medals. 15-year-old American phenom Debbie Meyer from Maryland won three gold medals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wiese (river)</span> A tributary of the Rhine in the southern Black Forest

The Wiese is a river, 57.8 kilometres long, and a right-hand tributary of the Rhine in southwest Germany and northwest Switzerland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swimming (sport)</span> Water-based sport

Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water. Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic sports, with varied distance events in butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle, and individual medley. In addition to these individual events, four swimmers can take part in either a freestyle or medley relay. A medley relay consists of four swimmers who will each swim a different stroke, ordered as backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2015 World Aquatics Championships</span> 16th FINA World Championships

The 16th FINA World Championships, also Aquatics 2015, were held in Kazan, Russia from 24 July to 9 August 2015. Russia hosted this event for the first time. The number of participating national teams (190), athletes (2,400) and the number of medals (75) were the most ever amongst these championships. This was the first time the World Aquatics Championships partially overlaps with the FINA World Masters Championships that have a number of athletes, countries (110) and medals (635) which are the most ever also.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swimming at the 2016 Summer Olympics</span>

The swimming competitions at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro took place from 6 to 13 August at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium. The women's open-water marathon was held on August 15, and the men's open water race on August 16 in Fort Copacabana.

<i>Rätia</i> (train)

Rätia is a EuroCity train service that linked Hamburg in Germany with Chur in Switzerland via Dortmund, Cologne, Mannheim, Basel and Zurich, following the river Rhine for a significant part of its journey. The service is named after Rhaetia, the Roman province that the city of Chur was in. Over the years, the name Rätia has been given to a number EC services between Chur and various parts in Germany, although the current services - EC 6/7 - lost their name in 2004. Since 2015 the service's southern terminus was cut back to Zürich.

Hanna Miluska is a Swiss former swimmer, who specialized in freestyle events and open water marathon. She is a two-time medalist in the 5 km open water at the World and European Championships. Miluska is also a member of Beider Basel Swimming Club, and is trained by her long-time coach Axel Mitbauer. She is also the daughter of former rower Ivan Miluška, who played for Czechoslovakia in the men's pairs at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Kehl (1796)</span> Battle in the war of the first coalition

During the Battle of Kehl, a Republican French force under the direction of Jean Charles Abbatucci mounted an amphibious crossing of the Rhine River against a defending force of soldiers from the Swabian Circle. In this action of the War of the First Coalition, the French drove the Swabians from their positions in Kehl and subsequently controlled the bridgehead on both sides of the Rhine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Germany–Switzerland border</span> International border

The border between the modern states of Germany and Switzerland extends to 362 kilometres (225 mi), mostly following Lake Constance and the High Rhine, with territories to the north mostly belonging to Germany and territories to the south mainly to Switzerland. Exceptions are the Swiss canton of Schaffhausen, the Rafzerfeld of the canton of Zürich, Bettingen and Riehen municipalities and part of the city of Basel in the canton of Basel-City and the old town of the German city of Konstanz, which is located south of the Seerhein. The canton of Schaffhausen is located almost entirely on the northern side of the High Rhine, with the exception of the southern part of the municipality of Stein am Rhein. The German municipality of Büsingen am Hochrhein is an enclave surrounded by Swiss territory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Switzerland at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships</span> Sporting event delegation

Switzerland competed at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships in Kazan, Russia from 24 July to 9 August 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meenakshi Pahuja</span> Indian academic and marathon swimmer

Meenakshi Pahuja is an Indian lecturer and marathon swimmer. After a successful career as a competitive swimmer, she became a teacher at Lady Shri Ram College, and later entered open water swimming. She received a 2018 Nari Shakti Puraskar award.

References

  1. "The Basel Rhine swim". TimeOut Switzerland. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  2. "Swimming in the Rhine in Basel". Life in Basel. Retrieved 24 July 2015.