After training for two years I have recently completed my swim to France in the cold English Channel in a 3-person relay team. The team completed the swim in 14 hours and 42 minutes. Setting-off at 11:30pm to a cold and windy night; we finished on the French coast close to Wissant on a bright and sunny day.

I want to thank Willmore Iles office for all the support, encouragement and most of all for understanding and providing flexibility in my office life to allow the insane amount of training and constant eating habits during office hours. I would not have been able to achieve this pipe dream without backing from amazing people at work and their continued enthusiasm in which they would ask me, “so how is the swimming going?” every time I looked a little tired at work.

The gruelling training consisted of cold showers, ice baths, swimming outdoors through winter, only wearing shorts and hours upon hours of swimming morning, afternoons and nights. But there is a positive; eating ice cream every day (and sometimes even twice). For anyone considering it, your diet is the most important reward for the training regime and of course the sense of accomplishment when you arrive back in England and see the distance you swam.

Again, a huge thank you to the office for supporting me in my stubborn endeavours, I hope they will do it again when I choose to swim it solo in the future!