Australian marathon swimmer celebrates her feat 12 years after embarking on her first voyage
Last game changer. 14 October 2021 09. 59 TSB
It took him 12 years, more than 450 hours in incredibly bloodless water and at least 1. 5 m of swimming; however, Australian marathon swimmer Chloë McCardel has become the queen of the English Channel by swimming in the water frame between England and France for the 44th time. .
Wrapped in an Australian flag as she celebrated her swim, McCardel said she had been waiting a long time to celebrate.
“I’m so grateful, I’ve had so much help from other people in the UK and Australia to help me get through the last 12 years,” said the swimmer, who struggled with a lung infection and suffered breathing difficulties during the race. . in his last bath.
“Many other people have helped me on the path of my dreams and I hope I can motivate the next generation of open water swimmers and other young people to pursue their dreams. “
McCardel, 36, surpassed the men’s world record of 34 Channel crosses last year and on Wednesday surpassed the existing record of 43 crosses held through British swimmer Alison Streeter.
It’s been a journey. He suffered from hypothermia, spent days in the Canterbury ICU after a cross, and struggled with boredom, pain and jellyfish. He did a series of doubles and a triple crossover, spending just under 37 hours in the water. Water frame kept reminding him.
“The first time I felt like I had discovered my place,” he told The Guardian before the last bath. “My total life has moved towards this point. But I have a love-hate date with the English Channel. Bad days, it’s as if the French coast or the wind tormented me, but that attracts me, it has an incredible, almost magical attraction. I call it my non-secular home because I’ve literally been called here every year. .
McCardel hopes her feat of endurance, skill and courage will motivate other women. She brazenly talks about surviving domestic violence and credits swimming for helping her in her onset of PTSD.
“After going through so much trauma, swimming in the English Channel helped me rebuild my confidence, which shook me a lot. My sense of identity and my self-esteem have been shaken,” he said.
The feat of crossing the English Channel a record number of times seemed silly to him, he admitted. Swimming for a day and a non-stop part shouldn’t really be possible. The frame constantly tells him to stop. ” This makes no sense. It’s essentially like, what punishment can your brain and your frame suffer before everything is broken?”
The Channel Swimming Association’s regulations are strict: she wears a wetsuit or anything that can provide her with protection, even a thermal bathing cap. After spending hours in the incredibly bloodless water, your brain begins to notice that you are dead of cold.
To distract herself from the exhausting 44 swims, she used visualization techniques, imagining in wonderful detail what it would be like to end, how she would look, smell and taste and practice gratitude, thinking of all the other people who helped her. “your brain is stuck in the moment, time passes very slowly,” he says. The concept is to get out of the supply if I’m suffering a lot and move to a happier place. “
McCardel was not informed of swimming until he was 11, but soon began swimming competitively. At 19, she sought to be the most productive in the world at anything and embarked on a swimming marathon. Then he finished swimming in the ocean without longer supervision. in history: a staggering 77 miles (124 km) from South Eleuthera Island to Nassau, Bahamas. She is fully self-funded and has started her own business to help other budding swimmers achieve their dreams of swimming solo or in relays, while also running as a speaker and motivational coach.
As the end of his epic challenge approached, he feared feeling a sense of loss, but said he had been very careful “not to wrap all of me in one thing. “
Once the feat is complete, he plans to grow his business and spread positivity about staying power and adventure through his keynote address. Whatever applause is coming, he knows he will have earned it.
“It’s been a complicated journey,” he said, “but I persisted. “
This article was amended on October 14, 2021 to explain that it is thermal bath caps that are prohibited by Channel Swimming Association regulations, not all caps.