Record-breaking Channel swim by six Bristol youngsters
A group of six 12-year olds from Bristol have broken the world record for the youngest relay team to swim the English Channel.
I discovered nobody under 16 was allowed to swim the Channel but children over 12 could swim it as part of a relay team
The Bristol English Channel Swim Team (BEST) of Lewis Clarke, James Elmer, Angus Rowley, Danny Pirret, Drummond McMillan and Alex Chantler-Mayne reached the French coast 13.5 hours after setting off from Shakespeare Beach near Dover.
The team completed the 21-mile challenge 42 years to the day after the previous youngest team from the Royal Tunbridge Wells Monson Swimming Club.
The idea was the brainchild of Clarke’s mother Sarah Johnson after her son asked if he could swim the Atlantic.
"I said it wouldn’t be possible but that he might be able to swim the English Channel," Johnson told the Bristol Evening Post.
“I then looked into what was involved and discovered nobody under 16 was allowed to swim the Channel, but that children of 12 and over could swim it as part of a relay team."
Selected from more than 40 applicants, the team of six – and two reserves, Eleanor Aris and Rebecca Sheppard – underwent rigorous cold-water training throughout 2010 to help prepare them for the swim.
Wearing little more than trunks, a hat, goggles and a layer of grease, the team overcame the threat of jellyfish, waves, swimming in the black of night and swallowing their fair share of salt water before Chantler-Mayne held off the tide to complete the final mile.
BEST raised £1,500 for Children’s Hospice South West and Surf Live Saving GB – congratulations to everyone involved.
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12.52pm 8th September 2010
Ann Lewis from GloucestershireFANTASTIC EFFORT. Well done all. kept checking the news over Friday night.
Now can we have an open water club in Bristol for all those who started with the squad, are still interested in distance/openwater swimming but by an accident of birth were just too old to get in the final squad after Oct 2009.
It had not been easy to find support at club level. 1500 metres really will not be a challenge for these guys so it should not be most they can swim in competition !
