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Marathon swim around Iceland 'inspired by Thor'

PA Media A man with dark hair and a beard, wearing a wetsuit, looks off from the camera as he stands on a rocky shore. It is a grey day, and mountains can be seen in the distance.PA Media
Ross Edgley said he was inspired to take on his Iceland challenge after a chat with actor Chris Hemsworth

An ultra-swimmer who is preparing to swim 1,000 miles (1,609km) around Iceland said he was inspired by actor Chris Hemsworth and his role as the Nordic god Thor.

Ross Edgley, 39, from Alderley Edge in Cheshire, joked the three-month challenge will be "the closest thing yet to swimming around Asgard" - the home of Thor.

He said he was introduced to Australian Hemsworth during the production of Thor: Love And Thunder (2022), describing the Hollywood star "just full of questions" and an "encyclopaedia" of Nordic folklore.

Mr Edgley will embark on his journey, deemed the Great Icelandic Swim, on Friday, and expects to face choppy waters, killer whales and temperatures as low as 3C.

EPA Chris Hemsworth attends the photocall for 'Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga' during the 77th annual Cannes Film Festival, in Cannes, France. He waves at the crowd wearing a salmon-pink blazer, waistcoat and white shirt. A crowd of photographers stand behind him.EPA
Hemsworth has reprised the role of Thor in a number of Marvel films: 'His knowledge of Nordic folklore is amazing," says Edgley.

The swimmer's intended routine will see him swim for six hours and rest for six hours, a pattern which will be repeated every day for about three months.

Mr Edgley is no stranger to difficult challenges, having previously swum more than 1,791 miles (2882km) in 157 days around the coast of Great Britain, as well as earning a Guinness World Record for the longest-distance assisted adventure swim, covering 317 miles (510km) along the Yukon River in Canada.

But he said the Iceland challenge is likely to be "twice as hard" because of the colder temperatures.

"Usually in England, when you get out of a frozen lake, you're running somewhere where there's a hot chocolate and you can get around the fire - but out there it's just Viking country," he said.

PA Media A man with dark hair and a dark beard looks off from the camera as he stands on rocks at the edge of the sea. He is wearing white flip flops and a yellow and black wet suit with the top half unzipped, exposing his chest. There are waves crashing behind him. PA Media
Ross Edgley holds a Guinness World Record for his swim along the Yukon River in Canada

The ultra-swim is also being completed in the name of science, with Mr Edgley planning to take daily water samples, working in collaboration with the University of Iceland and the Marine and Freshwater Research Institute of Iceland.

The samples are designed to help build a picture about the biodiversity around Iceland's coast, researching the environmental DNA (eDNA) in the water.

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