Many people have run a half marathon. Nath Lasselin has completed the 21.1-kilometre achievement, but not on a road. She did it in a single dive under the surface of the St. Lawrence River, completing the distance in her scuba gear in six hours.
Her unique dive was accomplished on Aug. 14. It has never been tried before. An award-winning underwater filmmaker, Lasselin’s mission is to show the world below the water surface to those of us who will never experience it.
There is also an environmental purpose in her diving. The St. Lawrence River provides Montreal with its drinking water but it also receives waste water after it has been treated. Lasselin wants to determine the health of the river and the species who live in it. Learning is a major part of her work.
Lasselin does not limit her exploration work to Canada. She has made films in more than 50 countries and has dived in underwater caves on five continents. Diving in the Canadian Arctic’s cold water every spring is another of her challenges.
Expanding the knowledge of our natural world is important to her. But in order to do that requires conditioning and diving skills. Her six-hour dive dwarfs the 45 minutes of an average recreational diver in water that is usually in clear and warm. Lasselin usually dives in water of limited visibility.
She has produced and directed six underwater documentary films that have been distributed in 25 countries. In her lectures she encourages people to learn more about the environment they live in.