Courtesy of Helen Gorman and blueseventy, a SwimSwam partner.
British swimmer, Kate Long, smashed her target for swimming the English Channel earlier this month. The 21 mile stretch of water between England and France forms one of the most iconic swims in the world, and only around 3000 people have ever completed it.
Kate’s time of 11hours 43minutes was well inside her target of 13-14 hours, and considerably faster than the average crossing time of thirteen and a half hours.
Here are Kate’s tips and experiences from the swim:
- I wanted to do something for my 30th birthday next year so I chose the mother of all swimming marathons!
- I did a lot of 10/12km swims in the pool. I have a 5.5km pyramid that I used to repeat a lot. It is as boring as it sounds!
- The only preparation for cold water is to swim in it!
- I took advice from a lot of people, including others who have swum the Channel that I met through Facebook. The power of social media!
- I started at 3:16am. I had to be at the boat for 2am!
- My favourite part was swimming in the sunrise. I swapped sides on the boat so I could watch it. I also saw some dolphins and lots of little jelly fish.
- During hours 7/8/9 I was hurting and getting cold. I couldn’t swim fast enough to keep warm. If the pilot had pulled me out I wouldn’t have argued, but there was no way I was making that decision myself. I was never going to quit.
- By the 9/10th hours I couldn’t eat solids. I couldn’t pull properly with my left arm and could only breath to my right, as I couldn’t turn onto my right arm properly. My right hip was really painful.
- Near the end I could see France and that was a real mind game. I thought it was only a few hundred metres away, but it was two whole miles away!
- The best bit was getting a text from my dad saying they were setting off to pick Jack, my son, up and to bring him down to Folkestone to meet me off the boat. Hearing that made it all worth it.
- I started by drinking warm fruit squash with carb powder in and eating bananas, melon, mars bars and rotating it round. After about 7 hours I felt sick. I was given some jelly babies with painkillers in them. I bit into the tablet and I had to spit it out. After that I only had hot chocolate. I now can’t drink hot chocolate. Just the thought of it makes me retch!
- The messages of support that I was getting were amazing. They made me smile while I was swimming and cheered me up through those dark hours of wondering why I was doing this!
- There is a pub in Dover, the White Horse, where you can write your name on the wall if you complete the Channel swim. Mine is up there! It’s really something to see.
Kate, who is a police officer, raised money for the Derbyshire, Leicestershire Rutland Air Ambulance Service after a mountain bike crash in 2011 required being rescued from the Peak District National Park.
She wore a blueseventy eclipse swimsuit for the swim, which she described as ‘really comfy.’ Channel swimming rules dictate that swimwear must not offer any thermal protection or buoyancy and cannot extend beyond the shoulders or below the level of the crotch. As such, wetsuit crossings are not recognised officially.
If you have aspirations to swim the English Channel there are two organisations to contact, the Channel Swimming Association and the Channel Swimming and Piloting Association.
Kate Long Photo Vault
Kate Long, Dover pub
Kate Long, sunrise
Kate Long in France
Kate Long – finished
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