Danube Canal Hosts First Swimming Event in Decades

Danube Canal Hosts First Swimming Event in Decades

The Urania building on the Danube Canal. Photo: WienTourismus/Peter Rigaud

 

A swimming event will take place in the Danube Canal this Saturday, September 7, for the first time since before the Second World War.

The Schwimmparade Donaukanal, or Danube Canal Swimming Parade, will begin at 16:00 from the Urania building and will include a water performance. Boat traffic will continue as usual during the parade, but a lifeboat will accompany the swimmers.

“It’s not about getting to the finish line as fast as possible, but rather about fostering a sense of community and enjoying the Danube Canal as a public space – a blue oasis in the heart of the city,” Anna Zettl of the Danube Canal Swimming Club, which organised the event, told ORF.

Zettl was keen to address concerns about the canal’s water quality, reassuring participants that it is “just below drinking water standard.”

“We can give the all-clear,” she confirmed. “Most of the time, the Danube Canal has the same water quality as the Danube’s main stream. Of course, it’s occasionally impacted by heavy rainfall, when excess canal water can spill over during large downpours.”

The event is inspired by Quer durch Wien (Across Vienna), a popular swimming competition held in the canal between 1912 and 1938.

Only 50 members of the swimming club are permitted to participate in the parade, but spectators are encouraged to attend and can gather along both sides of the riverbank. The route will take swimmers from the Urania to the Rotundenbrücke bridge, after which spectators will be invited to an after-party at Strandbar Hermann.

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