Pepijn Vriezen (center) pictured on the podium after finishing third overall in the 2025 Nevis to St. Kitts cross channel swim.
NEVIS--A handful of swimmers from St. Maarten braved the 24th Nevis to St. Kitts Cross Channel Swim on Saturday, March 29, competing in a huge field of 479 international participants registered. Over 400 swimmers finished the endurance event.
The annual cross channel swim in the "Narrows"consists of a 4.2K distance from Nevis to St. Kitts. Amateur video showed a massive wave of swimmers running for the water at the start.
An outstanding result was recorded by 15-year-old Pepijn Vriezen from St. Maarten who finished third overall in a time of 1:03:11. Further down the list another swimmer from St. Maarten, Erik Spit, finished 14th overall in 1:08:32 and first in age group. No less impressive given the strong competition and the strong currents swimmers had to contend with.
St. Maarten Physical Therapist Martijn Steffens (bib 464) finished in 235th place in 1:54:16
“I was quite nervous at the start because it was my first time doing an open water swim of that distance. I’m used to swimming around 1K or 750 metres close to shore,” said Pepijn. “The water was calm to start with but I was still quite stressed. At around the middle point the waves started and it was quite rough. I was getting water in my mouth and sometimes felt like drowning. There was a lot of wind as well.”
He explained he trains around six times a week in the pool and once a week in the sea outside the Divi Hotel. “I’ve been doing that more consistently outside of the pool to train for the Nevis to St. Kitts swim.”
All swimmers had a mandatory orange floater attached to their backs for security, to identify any missing swimmers. St. Maarten Road Runners President, Krispijn Teunissen, was handling the chip timing by YC Sport Events. Each swimmer has a chip attached to their ankle. When the start gun goes off swimmers run across a mat that activates the timing. Crossing the mat again at the finish stops the timing.
According to Krispijn, Vriezen’s finish time was the same as last year’s overall winner. Interestingly, the overall winner this year in 58:55 was 49 years old, the second place finisher 69, and third place finisher 15 years old.
Krispijn noted how far Pepijn has come in swimming since he competed against Meks (Teunissen’s son) in the Boardwalk Triathlon a few years ago. “Pepijn is a really, really, strong swimmer now. He is going to the Carifta Games in April in Trinidad as he’s on the national St. Maarten team,” he added.
As far as safety and security for the swimmers was concerned, Krispijn explained there were many boats, kayaks, and jet skis forming a shield outside of the swimmers track, but not disturbing them. The chip timing is also a safety measure because the information tells if a swimmer has finished or not.
“The swimming conditions were quite rough and there was a current that changed direction, for example at one point it was coming from the left and at the halfway point coming from the right. But this event is really well organised. Everything is taken into consideration.”
For the past two years the event has been organised by former professional triathlete Jane Hansom.
