HIGHLIGHTED SPEAKERS
Highlighted Speakers
Kim Chambers
Making A Comeback, Step By Step
Kimberley from New Zealand has fought back from near-death experiences to become one of the world’s most accomplished marathon swimmers. The former ballerina now living in San Francisco shifted to swimming after rehabilitating from nearly having her leg amputated. She went on to achieve the Oceans Seven and was the first woman to complete a crossing to the Farallones Island in the world’s most densely populated area with Great White Sharks. She serves as a motivational speaker with popular stints at TED Conferences and at the United Nations. In addition to her corporate work at Adobe in Silicon Valley, she has focused the energy at raising millions of dollars for charitable causes together with the Night Train Swimmers. She has completed unprecedented relay, tandem crossings, and cross-border swims from Mexico to Israel, in lakes and down the California coast, and was selected as one of the World’s 50 Most Adventurous Open Water Women. A film on her life and comeback, KIM SWIMS, has been extremely well-received in dozens of film festivals across the United States.
Aaron Peirsol
Getting Wet
Aaron is a former competitive swimmer and current World Record Holder in the 200m Backstroke. He is a three-time Olympian and seven-time Olympic medalist (five gold, two silver). He has won a total of thirty-six medals in major international competition, twenty-nine gold, six silver, and one bronze spanning the Olympics, the World, Pan American and Pan Pacific Championships. Growing up a Junior Guards in Newport Beach, in his retirement, Aaron has revisited his love for the ocean, becoming an ambassador for marine conservation non-profit Oceana. Aaron is also an avid open water swimmer and paddler, and is currently developing a beach safety program in Costa Rica.
Ram Barkai
The Future of Ice Swimming
Ram is a visionary and administrator from Cape Town. His greatest legacy include founding and managing the International Ice Swimming Association, establishing the standards, rules and ratification system for Ice Miles and Ice Kilometers, organizing the International Ice Swimming World Championships. He has completed marathon swims and ice swims from South Africa and the Sea of Galilee to Alaska and Alcatraz. He has completed 11 Ice Miles, set a Guinness World Record ice swim in Antarctica, organized and completed the Patagonia Extreme Cold Water Challenge, appeared in the Superhuman Showdown TV series, and served as a race director for a popular ocean series in South Africa. He was selected as one of the World’s 50 Most Adventurous Open Water Men and is lobbying for the inclusion of the Ice Kilometer into the Winter Olympic Games.
Antonio Arguelles
Why Swimming is My Rock / World Open Water Swimming Man of the Year
Antonio is one of the leading channel and marathon swimmers in the world from his home base of Mexico City. In addition to completing a number of triathlons and marathon runs, he has completed the Oceans Seven at the age of 58 – the oldest to do so – and has twice achieved the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming. He is an author, aquapreneur, and was named one of the Greatest Watermen in Open Water Swimming History and one of the World’s 50 Most Adventurous Open Water Men. His prolific career has led him to be voted as the 2015 and 2017 World Open Water Swimming Man of the Year and inducted as an Honor Swimmer in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (Class of 2014). He is an inspiring figure in his native Mexico where he has frequently appeared on television and in numerous publications.
Lewis Pugh
Recently Swam the Length of the English Channel
Lewis is a former maritime lawyer from the UK, one of the world’s leading ocean advocates from his home base in Cape Town, and an open water swimmer with a long list of unprecedented pioneering swims around the world. He delivers his message of ocean conservation to influential heads of states, top government officials, and millions of citizens around the world. In some cases, his pioneering swims have ultimately led to the creation of marine sanctuaries and Marine Protected Areas and justified his designation as the United Nations Patron of the Oceans. He received the Presidential Award from the International Swimming Hall of Fame and is an Honor Swimmer in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame. He is an unparalleled environmental campaigner via Speedo Diplomacy with a list of swims accomplished in the North Pole, Mount Everest, Antarctica, Maldives, and Scandinavia. He has been named a Young Global Leader, Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, Fellow of The Explorers Club, and Adventurer of the Year, and received the Order of Ikhamanga (Gold Class) in South Africa. He is a wildly popular speaker and author of Achieving the Impossible and 21 Yaks and a Speedo.
