I’VE SWUM IT 42 TIMES – ONCE IT ALMOST KILLED ME
Chloe McCardel, 36, is a marathon swimmer from Melbourne, Australia (@chloemccardel)
With 42 Channel swims under my belt, I just need two more to break the world record, which I hope to do this month.
When I learned to swim at 11 I loved it immediately. I wasn’t good enough to be an Olympian but, at 18, discovered open water and endurance swimming.The English Channel is the most respected and difficult swim in the world. Nothing else comes close. It’s a place where swimmers’ dreams come true – or don’t.
I do both single and multiple crossings (back and forth) and during the latter it’s a constant fight between my body battling cold and exhaustion, and my brain urging me to carry on.
As a marathon swimmer, you have to push yourself but there’s a fine line between being courageous and accidentally pushing yourself over the edge.
This is why a good support crew and pilot is crucial. In 2011, while attempting a triple crossing, I was hospitalised with hypothermia and a lifethreatening condition called SIPE (swimming induced pulmonary edema).
I would have kept on swimming until I died but luckily the pilot saw I was only using one arm and no longer lucid.
But something always draws me back.
There’s magic in swimming in a natural environment. It’s great for emotional wellbeing.
I am a survivor of domestic abuse and swimming has helped my confidence return. I’m now campaigning to raise awareness and change the law and coercive control.
The message I give is one of hope. There is always light at the end of the tunnel.
And I love being a pioneer. I hold the record for the longest non-stop ocean swim, covering 124km in 411/2 hours.
Back in the 1920s people believed that women ‘didn’t have the constitution’ to swim the Channel.
I love to prove them wrong again and again.