On August
24th, 1875
Captain Matthew Webb dived off the end of
Admiralty Pier in Dover to start what became
the first successful unaided swim across the
English Channel.
The English Channel, at its most narrow
point and in a straight line between Dover
and Cap Gris Nez is 21 miles or 35
kms wide. The water temperature ranges from
14 degrees (bitterly cold) to as high as 17
degrees (just plain cold); the winds drive
the currents and tides ferociously at times
and the swimmer/s must compete with liners,
ferries, merchant marine and cargo vessels,
all manner of shipping in reputedly the
busiest shipping lane in the world. Is it
any wonder that more people are successful
at climbing Mt Everest than crossing the
English Channel.
As an epileptic I saw the challenge and was
pleased when my coach Pauline Bolger stated
that “if you want to - you can with hard
work”
Of course hard work was the gentle euphuism
for an extended variation to my now regular
routine of rising at 4.00 am to be ready to
do our normal two hour morning swim at
5.30am. It would now be necessary to
intensify the training schedules. So after
evening training I would go home, get dinner
and prepare for the following day’s work and
training regime. Weekends would be training
for four hours on Saturday mornings, then an
afternoon session in the Swan River or in
Hilary’s Boat Harbour and again in the
evening. Night sessions were necessary as
part of my swim would be in darkness and I
needed to be as comfortable and confident in
that situation. I also found it was
beneficial to include several gym workouts
throughout the week.
A
dream to swim the English Channel requires
the same level of commitment and focus as
any other serious sportsman – your life goes
on hold – each and every swim is preparing
the focus of your attention – you learn to
swim through the pain thresholds, you train
so that every stroke counts, no stroke is
unimportant and each one takes you closer to
your goal..
In my case I had training additional to that
required of me as a member of a squad
planning a relay swim of the channel.
On 24th July 2006 at 2330 hours I
joined my friends on our relay swim of the
English Channel - starting from Shakespeare
Beach (England) and finishing 13 hours and
15 minutes later at Cape Gris Nez (France).
I am proud to say our team still hold the
World Record for the oldest relay team
to swim the English Channel. ( In
February 2007 the team was chosen as winners
of the 2006 Australian Sports Awards Masters
Team of the Year.)
After our relay crossing the rest of the
team went off on sight-seeing tours around
Europe and the United Kingdom whilst Selwyn
Jellie and I continued our preparations for
the solo swims.
On the 24th August 2006, two
hundred and thirty one years to the day
after Captain Webb’s swim it was my turn to
attempt a solo crossing – at 2335 I left
from Samphire Hoe (England) to take on the
English Channel.
I
knew from our relay swim the month before
that the conditions in the English Channel
were rough, but my opportunities were
eroding due to bad weather and as the days
passed and I knew that if I didn’t swim that
evening the opportunity of a solo crossing
may never present itself to me again.
Standing on the beach with the
encouragement of Pauline and Selwyn echoing
in my ears I entered the waters of the
English Channel. The combined effects of
the winds and tides and I suppose shipping
movements vary the waves from a low 1 metre
swell to that of an agitated washing
machine. It was cold, and dark, the waters
have foul taste and are not patch on our
beautiful seas here in Perth. I remember
thinking that I could bear the cold because
it would eventually warm once the sun came
up – it didn’t happen.
The English Channel lives up to its name as
one of the toughest, if not the toughest
long distance swim in the world and so not
something to consider lightly!. Preparation
is paramount and swimmers can put their
lives at risk (indeed some have died)
without adequate training and acclimatizing
to cold water.
During the swim participants cannot make
contact with the support boat and every 30
minutes feeding was by a piece of
reticulation pipe with a couple of flower
pots taped to it. That was rather fun with
waves breaking over you, a drink bottle in
one hand and a piece of cake or banana in
the other! Pauline wanted these feeding
stops to be no longer than 30 seconds –
otherwise you became too cold to swim.
At 1528 on Friday 25th August
2006 16 hours and 3 minutes later I finished
at Cap Blanc Nez (France) setting a world
record, “Oldest Woman in the World to
swim the English Channel”. I had
swum over 42 kilometres and achieved my
target.
No great success is without it’s supporters,
I have a wonderful coach in Pauline, great
team mates Selwyn Jellie (solo swim on 22/23
August 2006), Tony Parbery, Les Stewart,
Dieter Loeliger & Stan Davies and our boat
skipper Eddie Spelling.
It doesn’t matter at what age, dreams can be
achieved by dedication and focus, and the
result is the reward.
Susan E Oldham
