Durborow is thirty-four years old (1916); weight, 210 pounds; height, 6 feet; swims the double-over-arm stroke, and has been swimming since 1907. He swims about 600 miles a year, and has covered over 5,000 miles in ten years. In his training, particularly before he begins his very long swims, he does a lot of rowing over long routes, and generally rows about 2,000 miles a year. He is the only swimmer who has ultimately conquered every swim he ever tried. He never takes any nourishment during a swim, and is always at his work the next day after a big feat, none the worse for wear.
Among the hundreds of big swims made by Durborow, the following record of ten of his greatest performances, some of which have never been equalled by another swimmer, stamp him as the leading distance swimmer in the world:
Thirty-four miles, 12 hours and 44 minutes, from Arch Street wharf, Philadelphia, to one mile below Market Street wharf, Chester, and return to Washington Avenue wharf, Philadelphia, Delaware River, July 10, 1910.
Ten miles, 7 hours and 59 minutes, from Flat Rock Dam to Conshohocken and return, Schuylkill River, July 24, 1910.
Twelve miles, 5 hours and 53 minutes, from the million-dollar pier, Atlantic City, N. J., across the mouth of Great Egg Harbor Bay, over the bar to the beach, at Tenth Street, Ocean City, N. J., in Atlantic Ocean, June 25, 1911.
Forty-two and forty-three-one-hundredths miles, 14 hours, 15 minutes and 31 seconds, from Cape May, N. J., across the mouth of Delaware Bay to Broadkill Shoals, Delaware, Atlantic Ocean and Delaware Bay, July 1, 1912.
Thirteen miles, 8 hours, 12 minutes and 13 seconds, from the Charlestown Bridge to Boston Light, Boston Harbor, July 27, 1913.
Thirty-two and one-half miles, 12 hours and 52 minutes, from Walnut Street, Philadelphia, to one-eighth of a mile below Market Street, Chester, Pa., and return to Washington Avenue, Philadelphia, Delaware River, June 27, 1914.
Twenty-two miles, 8 hours and 46 minutes, from the Battery, New York City, to Sandy Hook Beacon, Sandy Hook, N. J., New York Harbor, July 19, 1914.
Twenty-six miles, 9 hours and 8 minutes, from Riverton, N. J., to Bristol, Pa., and return to Riverton, N. J., upper Delaware River, May 28, 1916.