When swimmers tackle the 200m butterfly, they must touch each wall with two hands. When swimmers tackle the 1500m freestyle, they must swim 30 laps of a 50m pool. When triathletes tackle the Hawaiian Ironman, they must do so without a wetsuit if the water is warmer than 76.1ºF (24.5ºC).
And so the same concept applies to swimming the English Channel. The English Channel is, as Brittany King said to many media outlets before her attempt, “by no means an easy task. Twenty-two miles in 55ºF (12.7ºC) water without a wetsuit is quite daunting.”
King appeared in numerous publications from Shape to Health Fitness Sports Magazine to Fox TV, touting prior to her swim how hard the English Channel is and touting afterwards about her 13 hour 38 minute crossing.
While the media lapped up her exploit and celebrated how the veterinarian was raising money for the Banfield Charitable Trust, she admitted to wearing a wetsuit. As she told Shape Magazine, “It’s okay to adjust your goal if you have to. You know, I didn’t want to wear a wetsuit when I was doing the channel swim, but I started to get hypothermia as I was swimming. My pilot told me, “You can get out and call it a day, or we can put you in a wetsuit, and you can finish the race.” I had to adjust my goal in order to reach it.”
What we find surprising is that she had a wetsuit on board her escort boat in the first place, especially one that fit her. This is not something that the usual English Channel aspirant does, no matter how honorable their charity channel crossing is. The English Chanel is the most hallowed waterway in the open water swimming community precisely because it is hard and because not everyone can make it.
To attempt a channel crossing and not finish is not failure. It is a simply an unfinished attempt. Sometimes, an unfinished attempt is due to the currents or tides. Sometimes, it is due to the darkness of night or the distance. Sometimes, it is due to an injury, seasickness or jellyfish. And sometimes, it is due to the cold. There is no shame in calling it a day. But calling for a wetsuit rubs the channel swimming and marathon swimming communities the wrong way, especially when so much publicity is the result.
Copyright © 2012 by World Open Water Swimming Association