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Peter Hancock’s Swim Story
Hello Marathon Swim Story listeners.
Are you someone that swims every single day?
Can you imagine swimming every single day for a decade?
Peter recently informed me that if he keeps going with his daily swims, on February 12th of 2025 he will hit his 4000th swim. And if he continues through his 50th birthday in June, he will have swam every single day of his 40’s.
How does he do it? As a freshwater ecologist, he has the distinct advantage of ready access to all kinds of water for his work. But even so Peter’s has a formidable resolve.
His passion for swimming is palpable. Named by Steven Munatones as the first Ultra Iceman: An ice swimming ultra marathon runner who has completed both an Ice Mile and a marathon run of at least 100 kilometers, Peter has so many amazing stories that we didn’t even have a chance to dig into how he pulls off his daily swims as a husband and father.
Shoot me an email with your questions, maybe we can have Peter back! I hope that you enjoy his story.
In his own words:
Peter Hancock has been swimming for as long as he can remember, with his earliest explorations taking place with his brother in the Bogan River near Nyngan in central New South Wales. As a young boy, he was captivated by the diversity of life in aquatic environments. The sight of creatures like fish, yabbies, insects, and freshwater mussels thriving in water, seemingly without air, sparked a lifelong curiosity that continues to this day.
Now an Aquatic Ecologist, Peter investigates the interactions between aquatic life and their environment. His work allows him to spend much of his time in and around lakes and rivers, swimming with platypus, bull sharks, freshwater jellyfish, water rats, and stonefish—animals rarely encountered by most people.
Peter’s journey into marathon swimming began around 25 years ago when he completed his first 2 km ocean swim. He immediately embraced the chaos and thrill of open water swimming, which has since become a cornerstone of his life. This progressed to increasingly longest swims, until about five years ago, his experience as an ultramarathon runner inspired him to explore the possibilities of swimming even further. This opened the door to new challenges and adventures.
Among his achievements, Peter has completed a 30 km swim in Copeton Dam, supported by a friend on a paddleboard, and the 24 km Safety Beach to Sorrento Swim in Port Phillip Bay, where he encountered spider crabs and large stingrays. In 2022, he completed an Ice Mile, showcasing his passion for the sensory and adventurous aspects of swimming.
In 2014, Peter embarked on a quest to swim in as many different locations as possible, reaching an incredible 333 unique spots by the end of the year. That same year, he began a daily swim streak that has continued unbroken for nearly 4,000 days, approaching its 11th anniversary in March 2025.
Peter has also completed four unofficial Ironman triathlons, including one entirely indoors, and two “double marathons,” which combined 10 km swims with 42.2 km runs at Rottnest Island and Nelson Bay. Most recently, he accomplished a “double-ultramarathon,” completing a 16+ km swim in Lake Jindabyne followed by a 140 km run over Mount Kosciuszko, Australia’s highest mountain.
For Peter, swimming is driven by a profound sense of adventure and curiosity—about the natural world and the incredible ways the human body can adapt and endure the challenges of endurance sports.
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