This week, Sally Minty-Gravett, MBE, Julia Morris, Fay de Gruchy, Alice Harvey, Karen le Cornu, and Rachel Sayers, all from the Isle of Jersey, completed a 6-person 70 km relay crossing of Lake Geneva (Lac Léman) from Château de Chillon in Veytaux, France to Bains des Pâquis in Geneva, Switzerland in 28 hours 56 minutes.

While the swim started out calm enough, it got tougher…a lot tougher.

Minty-Gravett who is a veteran English Channel swimmer and coach (see her Marathon Swimmers Federation bio here) put the crossing in perspective, “It was a very tough swim – and I am very glad that I shared it with an amazing relay team. I felt that it was harder than my English Channel crossings. It was very challenging with cold winds and very weird currents – and getting in and out constantly.”

There is a lot of experience behind that statement as Minty-Gravett has completed eight 33.5 km crossings of the English Channel in her career:

• 1975 in 11 hours 57 minutes at the age of 18
• 1985 in 15 hours 3 minutes at the age of 28
• 1992 in 12 hours 8 minutes at the age of 35
• 2005 in 13 hours 31 minutes at the age of 48
• 2013 in 17 hours 48 minutes at the age of 56
• 2016 in 35 hours 26 minutes at the age of 56 [two-way crossing as the oldest person in history]
• 2022 in 15 hours 30 minutes at the age of 65

Jaimie Monahan, president of the Lake Geneva Swimming Association, describes the crossing, “The Ultimate Trophy Swim across Lake Geneva – known as The Signature – traverses the length of Lake Geneva from Chillon Castle in Veytaux, France to Bains des Pâquis in Geneva, Switzerland. I is twice as long as an English Channel crossing, with fresh water flowing directly from mountains surrounding the lake. This swim is considered to be one of the toughest open water swims around.”

As Minty-Gravett described it.

For more information and to apply, visit here.

Successful Relays

• Water Worshippers, 2 stage swimmers in August 2015 in 30 hours 27 minutes
• Frequent Flyers, 6 swimmers in July 2016 in 33 hours 34 minutes
• Geneva by 3, 3 swimmers in July 2016 in 27 hours 39 minutes
• JENBO Jets, 4 swimmers in September 2016 in 27 hours 55 minutes
• ChaCha Team, 8 swimmers in September 2016 in 23 hours 28 minutes
• Swim & Tonic, 6 swimmers in July 2017 in 30 hours 38 minutes
• The Lion, the Witch, and the Dry Robe, 3 swimmers in August 2017 in 32 hours 7 minutes
• Swim for West Papua, 6 swimmers in August 2017 in 28 hours 7 minutes
• Château to Gâteau, 4 swimmers in July 2018 iin 22 hours 4 minutes
• Viva Geneva, 5 swimmers in July 2018 in 22 hours 3 minutes
• Flying Rabble, 6 swimmers in August 2018 in 24 hours 41 minutes
• In the Duck Poo, 6 swimmers in July 2019 in 24 hours 47 minutes
• Safsal Lake Geneva, 6 swimmers in July 2022 in 25 hours 53 minutes
• Brian’s Battlers, 5 swimmers in August 2022 in 26 hours 50 minutes
• Kingsdown Crawlers Relay, 5 swimmers in August 2022 in 26 hours 40 minutes
• The Ladies of the Lake, 5 swimmers in September 2022 in 27 hours 3 minutes
• The Broker Buoys, 5 swimmers in September 2022 in 26 hours 58 minutes
• The Lakelords, 5 swimmers in September 2022 in 28 hours 24 minutes
• The Naughty Nixies, 5 swimmers in June 2023 in 28 hours 16 minutes
• Are we nearly there yet, 6 swimmers in July 2023 in 28 hours 4 minutes
• Bray Lake Bathers, 6 swimmers in July 2023 in 25 hours 31 minutes
• Ironfish Swimmers, 6 swimmers in July 2023 in 27 hours 36 minutes
• The Genevinos, 6 swimmers in August 2023 in 25 hours 6 minutes
• Czech masters across Lac Léman, 4 swimmers in August 2023 in 20 hours 8 minutes

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