The Challenge

Not only will James be attempting this world first swim of 36 miles over just two days, he will also be facing the extreme marathon challenge alone. He will be joined in parts by friends and family plus two kayaks and an escort boat purely for safety reasons. Try to imagine sitting in a cold bath for 12 hours on your own...not a pleasant thought but his training will allow him to cope with this. We hope that you will be there to support the challenge, and the general public will continue to motivate James throughout the two days.

There are a number of factors that make this an extremely difficult swim.

The distance

•In total the swim length, split into two days, is 36 miles, almost twice the English Channel.
•Due to the canals length, James has to be physically developed to able to swim for 21 miles (35km) on day one and then another 15 miles (25km) on day two (the equivalent of the English Channel). If you were swimming that total distance in a public swimming pool you would complete 2,400 lengths.
•On day one James will use approx 44,000 strokes. This is the equivalent to holding a 3kg weight in each hand and rotating your arms 44,000 times, and on day two take 30,000 strokes (15,000 each arm.)

The Cold

•James will be swimming in approx 15 degrees centigrade so is at risk of hypothermia.
•He needs to maintain a high and consistent stroke rate and consume liquid and food every hour to maintain his energy levels and core temperature.
•Most of the heat lost during his swim will be from his head and back so he’ll wear a silicone swim cap and smear his shoulders and upper with lanolin to reduce heat loss.
•Canal is an operational shipping corridor so careful attention/monitoring of ships needs to be undertaken. There is a potential risk of illness if he takes on too much poor quality water.

The Sensory deprivation

•A key challenge will be focusing mentally to be able to swim for 12 hours in a canal where there is nothing to see, its murky in front of you, there is no one to talk to and nothing to listen to.

Kayak Support

Stephen Chicken and Andy Waugh of 53N will play a vital part in the Challenge. Both are currently completing their own training session and working on logistics of moving the kayaks around the locks!
The Kayak support will play an imperative role in the swim by warning other vessels of swimmers nearby and identify any hazards whilst James has his head down in the water.