Editie NL wilde wel eens weten waarom het Kanaal overzwemmen op je bucketlist kan staan. Roy Danckaarts en Wendy Dorrestijn van ZwemAnalyse konden dat precies vertellen. Wendy omdat ze haar oversteek in 2020 ook gebruikt om geld in te zamelen voor een PTSS-hulphond.

Roy wilde nog wel kwijt dat het géén stoer verhaal voor op feestjes is. "De meeste mensen hebben toch zoiets van, waarom zou je zwemmen als er ook een veerboot gaat?"

Even na middernacht, van zondag op maandag, heeft Lisa Dreesens uit Venray haar zwemtocht over het Kanaal volbracht. De 27-jarige Limburgse deed tien uur en twintig minuten over haar heroïsche oversteek van het Engelse Dover naar het Franse Cap Gris Nez, vlakbij Calais.

Slechts 22 Nederlandse zwemmers slaagden er eerder ook in om de overkant te halen in de 144-jarige geschiedenis van het Kanaalzwemmen.

2019-08-07 - Wassenaar - ChannelChallenge heeft inmiddels meer dan 8 open water zwemclinics gegeven. De meeste daarvan waren in samenwerking met ZwemAnalyse. De clinics waren in zowel zoet als zout water en op heel verschillende locaties. Er komen er nog wat meer aan: 

De beide teams die ChannelChallenge zou begeleiden over Het Kanaal hebben lang gewacht op een mogelijk moment voor een oversteek.

2019-07-17 - Folkstone - The team of Interntional SOS employees are ready to go! When travelling towards Dover it was likely to have them swim tonight. The weather has however changed. The swim is postponed to Thursday and finish on Friday.

This leaves the opportunity to have an extra training. They swam at leasurly pace for some time to a bouy that is layin in front of the hotel and returned to shore. The water was very agreable with 17,9C. The current was not. It took some effort to get from the bouy back to the spot on the beach where we left.The swim was verynice indeed!

A Brisbane teenager has become the second-youngest person to swim the English Channel twice in one day, swimming 68 kilometres in 22 hours to make it happen.

Brianna Thompson, 17, lost a layer of her tongue and suffered from severe leg cramps and jellyfish stings in the swim from England to France and back — a feat of endurance only achieved by 20 others.

2019 ISHOF Honor Open Water Swimmer, Marcy MacDonald completed her 17th crossing of the English Channel on Saturday, July 6th, 2019, on the 25th anniversary of her very first crossing. MacDonald wrote this to family, friends and supporters after her swim:

“Greetings from Dover! I am enjoying a day by the sea with a few muscle aches after yesterday. I’m over the multiple jellyfish zaps but I am happy to say I will be able to swim another day. The next stop is in Bridgeport, CT for the Swim Across the Sound. I’ll be doing a 2-person relay with my childhood team mate, Geoffrey Michaud. Both of us grew up on the Manchester Rec Swim team.

Like other environmental constituents, such as pressure, heat and oxygen, cold water can be either good or bad, threat or treatment, depending on circumstance. Given the current increase in the popularly of open cold water swimming, it is timely to review the various human responses to cold water immersion (CWI) and consider the strength of the claims made for the effects of CWI. As a consequence, in this review we look at the history of CWI and examine CWI as a precursor to drowning, cardiac arrest and hypothermia. We also assess its role in prolonged survival underwater, extending exercise time in the heat and treating hyperthermic casualties. More recent uses, such as in the prevention of inflammation and treatment of inflammation‐related conditions, are also considered. It is concluded that the evidence base for the different claims made for CWI are varied, and although in most instances there seems to be a credible rationale for the benefits or otherwise of CWI, in some instances the supporting data remain at the level of anecdotal speculation. Clear directions and requirements for future research are indicated by this review.

Rowan Clarke on Clevedon, Somerset

As an outdoor swimmer and swimming coach, Rowan is often found on the side of Clevedon Marine Lake giving guidance to all ability levels. She is on the Board of Trustees for Marlens, the charity that looks after the Marine Lake and a member of the South West Seals winter swimmers.

Well that didn't go to plan. Instead of recovering from a celebratory Babycham in the White Horse in Dover I found myself in a hospital bed in Ashford on Sunday morning. My attempt to swim the English Channel was foiled in French inshore waters by Swimming Induced Pulmonary Edema (SIPE). I'd been airlifted from my support boat and was in a resuss bed.

The First 11 Hours

I started my Channel swim just after 7am on Saturday morning. The training had been done, it was a beautiful morning and weather was forecast to be improving. I had the pilot and crew that I wanted. I was raring to go. I was greased up in the mixture of sun cream and udder cream which it’s basically a mix of Vaseline and lanolin (good for cows and Channel swimmers and even better for Channel swimming cows). Over the side and a short swim to the beach at Samphire Hoe for the official start. A few Pilates moves on the beach and some wise motivational words to myself about not stopping until I hit France and I was off.