Red Top coach Tim Denyer (@redtopperformance) visited Huntington Beach in Southern California with 36-year-old Tessa Garside, 37-year-old Will Smith, and 43-year-old Chris Cook for three separate attempts at the Catalina Channel this week – as their channel swimming colleague Joanne Norman completed a late-season North Channel crossing between Northern Ireland and Scotland a half a world away in 13 hours 8 minutes.

All three have crossed the English Channel with Red Top, finishing in 10 hours 14 minutes for Garside, 12 hours 51 minutes for Smith, and 12 hours 18 minutes for Cook. The trio have also completed a 23.5 km crossing of Lake Malawi in Africa, the Strait of Gibraltar  from Spain to Morocco, and the 23 km Cook Strait in New Zealand, completed 20 Bridges around Manhattan Island in New York City, the SCAR Swim Challenge in Arizona, and the Rottnest Channel Swim in Western Australia.

Garside begins tonight from Santa Catalina to the Palos Verdes Peninsula on the California mainland – as the others cheer her on and wait their turns.

For updates on the Red Top Performance atheltes, visit @redtopperformance.

California can, at times, be an esoteric place. Swimmers from abroad visit Huntington Beach and can come across different sights – from surfing dogs, roaming coyotes on the beach, flag-waving President Trump supporters to the latest in e-bikes cruising along Pacific Coast Highway.

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