Courtesy of Paul McQueeney, English Channel.
Husband Paul McQueeney announced, “It is with great regret that we announce that Chloë McCardel has stopped swimming during Lap Three due to severe breathing difficulties as a result of salt inhalation. We will provide more details shortly.”
McCardel had trained and put together an escort team in order to attempt a quadruple Channel crossing, an unprecedented four-way English Channel crossing attempt.
Judging from videos from her Facebook page, McCardel looked remarkable fast and strong with a 10 hour 26 minute first lap and a 10 hour 8 minute second lap.
After her first lap, McQueeney reported, “Chloë has completed lap 1 of 4 at immediately turned for lap 2. Unofficial first lap time 10.26.” After her second lap, he reported, “Chloë has just finished lap 2 and immediately turned for lap 3 … 2nd lap time 10.08.”
Her 2-way cumulative time of 20 hours 34 minutes is an extremely fast, highly respectable double crossing in itself – yet she had another double crossing to go to achieve her goal.
Today was simply not her time. But McCardel began this journey with a dream. She set an unprecedented goal for herself and went after it. She knew a quadruple crossing would be extremely difficult, but not impossible and not unattainable. It took her a few attempts to achieve a three-way crossing. It may take her – or someone else – a few attempts to achieve a four-way crossing.
Her achievement is that her dream has taken root.
Stay tuned for more.
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