Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Sharks, deadly jellyfish a Channel swims.. I think th And 44 cross hat’s enough!
During her swimming career, Chloë Mccardel has almost died from hypothermia, swum sharkinfested waters and been paralysed by deadly jellyfish.
But after finishing a world record 44th English Channel crossing on October 13, the 36-year-old Australian is ready to hang up her marathon swimming cap for good.
“When I was 19, I decided I wanted to be the best in the world at something, and the English Channel is known for being the pinnacle of marathon swimming,” says Chloë.
“Breaking the record has felt really surreal. It hasn’t really sunk in yet, but I’m so happy to have finally achieved this.”
The previous record-holder was Brit Alison Streeter, now 57. Known as “the queen of the English Channel”, Alison completed her 43rd swim in 1995, trouncing the men’s record of 34 held by Kevin Murphy, before taking a step back.
But on October 6 Chloë equalled Alison’s feat when she finished her 43rd swim, and she was back in the water – as ever covered in a mixture of Vaseline and lanolin to prevent chafing – a few days later to complete her 44th, swimming the 20.5 miles in 10 hours.
And Chloë says while she has never met Alison, the British swimmer has been there to give her advice in the past.
“I would absolutely love to meet Alison – she removed herself from the swimming community before I started out but I have been in contact with her,” she explains.
“I have a lot of respect and admiration for her. She is a pioneering marathon swimmer and has done so much for women’s sport. However, if she did come back to do another Channel crossing, my intention would be to come back and try again to beat the record.”
Chloë, who lives in Sydney. Australia, but spends three months of the year living in Deal, Kent, was late to swimming, learning when she was 11.
After discovering she was a natural in the water and becoming a junior elite swimmer, she decided she wanted to pursue marathon swimming.
But Chloë says initially her family weren’t pleased with her choice, telling her to “get a real job” and even kicking her out of their home as they weren’t able to financially support her.
She says: “Originally when I got into it, my parents were not excited about it at all.
“They wanted me to go and get a real job and finish university.
“They even kicked me out of home when I was 20 and said they weren’t going to financially support me. They said if
I wanted to do it, it was up to me. The first three years I started swimming was really hard graft.” However, after completing her first Channel crossing in 2009 she has proved everybody wrong and has gone on to inspire a generation of swimmers – and she says her family have now changed their mind about her achievements and are very proud of her. In 2015, Chloë became the first Australian and one of only five people in history to ever complete a triple crossing of the Channel – going from England to France, then back to England and back to France again – without stopping.
This was a feat that took her a mammoth 36 hours, made even more impressive by the fact she didn’t have a break in-between.
“It was straight through without stopping,” she says. “I stopped to eat and drink in the water, but I had to tread water the whole time so I was still moving my arms and legs to keep myself upright.
“It wasn’t a rest as I couldn’t sit or lie down. At the end of the laps of the Channel you’re technically allowed 10 minutes rest on shore but it’s better to not take that as standing on the water’s edge not creating heat is disadvantageous and just makes you colder and more prone to hypothermia.
Her first attempt to finish the gruelling triple in 2011 almost proved fatal after Chloë suffered in the 16-degree water.
“When I was taken to Canterbury Hospital, my core temperature was just 28C,” she recalls.
“A doctor told my crew that if I’d been left in the water for half an hour longer I would have died.
“At that time I also had a different condition called swimming induced pulmonary plasma leaks into you’re drowning in y
“I was having diffic and coughing up p was in intensive ca horrible – but it did wanting to have ano triple crossing.”
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toxic jellyfish and had to cut short her attempt after 11 hours.
Chloë, recalls: “This type of jellyfish has killed dozens of people over the years – I was completely paralysed due to the poison from the stings and had to abandon my swim and be hauled out of the water. I was even having tentacles pulled out of my mouth. The pain was excruciating. I just wanted to die because the pain was so bad.”
Despite these experiences, Chloë says the positive impact swimming has had on her mental health has been what has kept her going back in the water time and time again.
She is a survivor of domestic violence and says negative experiences with Australian police when she sought help contributed to her diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder in 2018.
“Being in a wide, open space like the water has always given me a sense of freedom, which I don’t always feel on land,” adds Chloë.
“PTSD is such a bad anxiety disorder, I was struggling to sleep and would wake up screaming in the night. But every time I went swimming I would feel so good afterwards, even if I was having a really rubbish day.
“Because swimming is quite a repetitive movement, I get into quite a meditative state.”
Chloë has now turned her attention to becoming a motivational speaker and also works as a coach and boat guide helping others swim the Channel. “I love inspiring and supporting people and helping them go through their own journey,” she says. “I want to keep having a very strong connection to the Channel even if I’m not planning to swim it again.”
For more information on Chloe, see chloemccardel.com