So, You Want to Swim the English Channel?
Here's Some Pub Fodder and Factoid of Information to Allow You to Sound Like You Know All About Swimming "La Manche"
Hey Swimmers
It is now just under 15 years since I swam the English Channel, yet the experience remains remarkably vivid.
On 8 September 2011, after waiting in Dover for nearly three and a half weeks, I finally got my opportunity. My daughter Isla was due to be born only a couple of weeks later, so this had become a genuine do-or-die attempt. If I did not swim that day, three years of preparation would end with me returning home empty-handed. Admittedly, I would be returning home to welcome a brand-new member of the family, so it was not all bad!
That long wait taught me something most people do not realise about swimming the English Channel: completing the training is only one part of the challenge. Getting yourself onto the start line is an undertaking in itself.
The next time you are sitting in a pub and a mate casually says, “I’d love to swim the English Channel one day,” here is the first thing you can tell them:
You cannot simply enter it.
There is no ballot, no mass start and no online form where you select a date, pay your money and turn up. Swimming the English Channel is part athletic challenge, part maritime operation and part negotiation with the moon.
Paul Newsome is one of our affiliate coaches and the founder of Swim Smooth. He offers personalised UltraSwim 33.3 training programmes which are tailored to your needs. Check out the Swim Smooth Guru training programmes here.
