Hoffy's Two Way Channel Swim 2008 - List of Channel Swimmers

Text Box: Who has swum the English Channel? 1. Solo swims - England to France and France to England I have taken the liberty here of copying the excellent work of Julian Critchlow who has researched and built a database of all known channel swims since Matthew Webb’s first know swim in 1875. You will note that my July 2007 channel swim is swim number 1287 and I was the 873rd known person to swim the channel (some people have completed more than one swim e.g. Alison Streeter, 43 crossings. Kevin Murphy, 34 and Mike Read 33 crossings). All the information that follows is Julian’s wording from his website:- Channel Swim Database by Julian Critchlow I (Julian Critchlow) have recently compiled a single, comprehensive list of all solo channel swims (CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD). Why you might ask?! There are pretty comprehensive lists at www.soloswims.com (for C.S.A. swims) and www.channelswimming.com (for C.S.A. & C.S.P.F. swims). Why is another list required? I had 5 objectives for the comprehensive database of Channel Swims: 1. It should be comprehensive! All swims – whether ratified by the C.S.A., C.S.&P.F. or Butlins – are included. 2. It should be the full picture in one place. Although the above sources all have significant pieces of the puzzle, none had the full picture in one place. 3. It should be structured so it can be analysed. The above sources are either in HTML or Word or Excel. The new database is in a structured database format across all 3 ratifying organisation – I have chosen Excel which can be easily imported into most databases. 4. It should be internally consistent. Swimmers names are all spelt the same – i.e. for the same swimmer, Matt and Matthew is not allowed. Also Country names have been made consistent – i.e. not United States of America and U.S.A. I have spent significant time and effort checking & ensuring consistency. 5. It should be verified from primary sources. In the main, the best sources are the records of the ratifying organisations (checked for transcription errors!). But some information can only be obtained from the individual. Hence this email! Where possible, I am checking each entry with the individual swimmer to fill in gaps and verifying information. Unfortunately I won’t be able to check everyone’s details – for instance, Matthew Webb is refusing to respond to my emails. For reference, I intend to offer this database to all interested parties – so as to build some consistency on facts & figures. It will also be kept up-to-date as possible at my site www.channel-swims.info. I do not profess any ownership over the content of the database but want to bring everyone together around a single set of information. It has many, many interesting facts to reveal (see below)…and probably quite a few errors I am sure which will need to be corrected over the coming months. Let me go through a few of both! Sources The sources for the information in the database are many. The primary source is the work done by Mike & Angela Oram over many, many years whilst at the CSA and more recently at the CS&PF. This is published at their site www.channelswimming.com. Additional sources are the listings kept by Bryan Finlay at www.soloswims.com and information from Mark Frost at Dover Museum site www.dover.gov.uk/museum/resource/swim/swim1.asp. Finally I have sent emails to all swimmers that I can find who are members of the SmartGroups community or who are contacts of contacts! I have sent around 270 emails to confirm the data in the database and had over 60% of the datasheets returned – with many more promising information once they can retrieve the observer reports from the bottom of their filing system! Each line confirmed by a swimmer is highlighted in green. For this year’s swims, I use the SmartGroups reports and will update the list based on the final CS&PF and CSA lists once ratified. The grapevine indicates that the CS&PF had 58 successful solo swims and the CSA had 21 making a total of 79 – a superb year. I currently have 50/58 swims for the CS&PF and 21/21 for the CSA on the database. The final lists should be ready in the next few days so I understand. If you find any errors or inconsistencies in the database, please do not hesitate to email me at julian@channel-swims.info providing me as much detail as possible (especially on sources of information) and I will investigate & correct the database as appropriate. This is definitely intended to be a living database whose quality and accuracy will improve with time. Structure The database is structured as an Excel database to allow analysis of the data. Where possible, I have tried to ensure consistency of spellings (e.g. swimmers names, pilots, boats, countries etc). Each swim is flagged with its “Ratifying Organisation” which is either the Channel Swimming Association (www.channelswimmingassociation.com), Sam Rockett’s book “It’s Cold in the Channel”, newspaper reports on the Daily Mail/Butlins races or the CS&PF (www.channelswimming.net). It is up to the user to decide how comparable the standards used by the different organisations are and therefore whether to include or exclude their swims. The first set of columns represents the “data” on each swim. The second set – from column Z on – are derived information such as “was this the swimmers first crossing?” or the most important questions – column AC & AD – “which # individual was I to swim the channel?” and “which # crossing – either way – was I?” For those interested in the history of “ratifying” channel swims, it is worth reading the story of Dr Dorothy Logan who claimed a world record, only later to recant and admit that she had not swum the channel (see http://www.qualitytyme.net/pages/rolex_articles/m_gleitze.html). You will see in the database that during the 1950s Butlins races some swimmers were ratified by CSA observers and others competing in the same race were not. Personally, until informed otherwise, I am happy to accept the observation of the many newspaper journalists and support crews that these other swimmers – as logged in “It’s Cold in the Channel” – did indeed swim the channel. Whilst I have asked swimmers for their date-of-birth and email addresses, for security reasons (i.e. “identity theft”), I have not published this information in the database but have used it to calculate ages etc. If anyone is concerned about other information in the database, then please do contact me. Known Problems! There are a few known problems with the database. You do not need to email me to point these out!! First a number of early CSA swims would appear to be in the wrong order. This could be because (a) they are in the wrong order; or (b) I have the dates wrong. Clearly anyone with information on any of these swims, please email me! In the meantime, I have ordered them roughly in the order that the dates would suggest – unless the date that I have appears clearly wrong. Second since 2001, it is hard to order the CSA and CS&PF swims where they occur on the same day – until each swim has a start and finish time. As more information is received, I will “enhance” the ordering of the database!! Third a number of sources just disagree. In general I have run with the CSA or CS&PF data as organisations formally approved by the regulating authorities to ratify channel swims. But even they make mistakes occasionally (a source of errors peculiar to channel swimming is the logging of time – French vs GMT. If logged unclearly by the observer, then you can inadvertently add or subtract an hour from the swim - I am aware of a couple of examples of this!!) Fourth the division within the United Kingdom between England, Wales, Scotland is certainly wrong! Where people nominate Wales or Scotland, I have logged that. The default otherwise tends to be England – but if you know otherwise for a particular swimmer, do please email me and I will correct it!! In addition, I will almost certainly have messed up on some national boundaries and put my foot in it geo-politically. Apologies in advance…but do email me to educate me if you spot a mistake. Equally don’t expect me to solve all historic boundary debates!

Above: Kevin Murphy. “King of The Channel” with 34 Crossings on the beach in Dover.

Above: Alison Streeter, “Queen of The Channel” with 43 successful crossings with Hoffy, 2 channel crossings.

Above: Mike Read (right) former “King of The Channel” with 33 Crossings with Hoffy before a Boxing Day swim at Felixstowe, Suffolk on December 26, 2006.

Above (Left to Right): Hoffy (GB - 2 x solo Channel swims), Anne Cleveland (USA - 4 x solo Channel Swims), Alison Streeter (GB - 43 x solo Channel Swims, "Queen of The Channel"), Marcy MacDonald (USA - 9 x solo Channel Swims).

Above (Left to Right): 2007 Channel swimmers re-union, Cap Griz-Nez, France, October 20, 2007.

TOP: Lynn Hawkins (04-08-2007 - 16:40), Rose Levien (25-08-2007 - 13:22), Paul Hopfensperger (10-07-2007 - 13:52), Michael Renford (01-08-2007 - 12:10), Jaimie Minter-Green (08-08-2007 - 14:32).

BOTTOM: Rose Levien, Jaimie Minter-Green, Scott B. Richards (09-10-2007 - 13:20), Tim Cheeseman (25-08-2007 - 15:07), Paul Hopfensperger.

Above: Hoffy with Channel Swimmer and the first person to swim at -1.7 Degrees Centigrade at The North Pole, Lewis Gordon-Pugh. Tooting Bec Lido, London, 09/02/2008.

2. Two-way solo swims - England to France to England & France to England to France.

Swim No.	Swimmer No	Forename	Surname	Country	Year	Hrs.	Mins.	Notes
1	1	Jon	Erikson	USA	1981	38	27	1st Leg -10 Hrs. 10 Mins. 2nd Leg - 13 Hrs. 14 Mins. 3rd Leg - 15 Hrs. 03 Mins.
2	2	Philip	Rush	New Zealand	1987	28	21	1st Leg - 7 Hrs. 55 Mins. 2nd Leg - 8 Hrs. 15 Mins. 3rd Leg - 12 Hrs. 11 Mins. New World Record.
3	3	Alison	Streeter	England	1990	34	40	1st Leg - 10 Hrs. 36 Mins. 2nd Leg - 10 Hrs. 35 Mins. 3rd Leg - 13 Hrs. 29 Mins.

The Charts of the first one way and two way swims of the English Channel.

Left: First one way - Captain Mathew Webb, England, August 24, 1875, 21 Hours, 45 Minutes.

Right: First two way - Antonio Abertondo, Argentina, Sept. 20, 1961, 43 Hours, 10 Minutes.

Above: Hoffy with current English Channel World Record Holder Petar Stoychev (06:57:50) in Jarak, Serbia, July 13, 2008.

Charts reproduced from the Channel Swimming Association Limited Handbook (2005 Edition).

Swim No.	Swimmer No	Forename	Surname	Country	Year	Hrs.	Mins.	Notes
1	1	Antonio	Abertondo	Argentina	1961	43	10	The first ever two-way channel swim.
2	2	Ted	Erikson	USA	1965	30	03	New World Record.
3	3	Kevin	Murphy	England	1970	35	10	-
4	4	Jon	Erikson	USA	1975	30	00	New World Record (son of Ted Erikson).
5	3	Kevin	Murphy	England	1975	36	03	The first person to complete 2 x two-way channel swims.
6	5	Cynthia	Nicholas	Canada	1977	19	55	New World Record and first woman to complete a two-way channel swim.
7	5	Cynthia	Nicholas	Canada	1979	19	12	New World Record and first woman to complete 2 x two-way channel swims.
8	4	Jon	Erikson	USA	1979	22	16	-
9	5	Cynthia	Nicholas	Canada	1981	22	21	-
10	4	Jon	Erikson	USA	1981	23	24	England to France to England. Part of the first ever 3 x way Channel swim.
11	4	Jon	Erikson	USA	1981	28	17	France to England to France. Part of the first ever 3 x way Channel swim.
12	5	Cynthia	Nicholas	Canada	1982	18	55	New World Record and First person to complete 4 x two-way channel swims.
13	5	Cynthia	Nicholas	Canada	1982	20	09	First person to complete 5 x two-way channel swims.
14	6	Alison	Streeter	England	1983	21	16	-
15	7	Irene van der	Laan	Holland	1983	18	15	New World Record.
16	8	Osama Ahmed	Momtaz	Egypt	1984	21	37	-
17	9	Philip	Rush	New Zealand	1985	17	56	New World Record.
18	3	Kevin	Murphy	England	1987	32	42	-
19	9	Philip	Rush	New Zealand	1987	16	10	New World Record (Still the fastest to date). Part of the second ever 3 x Channel swim. England to France to England.
20	9	Philip	Rush	New Zealand	1987	20	26	Part of the second ever 3 x Channel swim. France to England to France.
21	6	Alison	Streeter	England	1990	21	09	The first and only woman to ever complete a 3 x way channel swim. Part of the 3 way channel swim. England to France to England.
22	6	Alison	Streeter	England	1990	24	04	Part of the 3 way channel swim. France to England to France.
23	10	Susie	Maroney	Australia	1991	17	14	-
24	6	Alison	Streeter	England	1992	22	20	-
25	11	Paula	Townley-Rivett	England	1993	22	11	-
26	12	Nora Toledano	Cadena	Mexico	1994	23	38	-
27	6	Alison	Streeter	England	1995	20	55	-
28	13	Nicholas	Adams	England	1995	27	28	-
29	14	Igor de	Souza	Brazil	1997	18	33	-
30	15	Marcy	MacDonald	USA	2001	21	19	-
31	16	Dave	Parcells	USA	2002	21	30	-
32	17	Anne	Cleveland	USA	2004	28	36	-
33	15	Marcy	MacDonald	USA	2004	23	00	Part of a 3 way attempt. Marcy completed a 2 way but not the 3 way (E/F/E).
34	18	David	Cech	Czech Republic	2006	19	54	-

At the end of your life when the final book on you is written, let it say you tried but failed. But don’t let it say you didn’t even try.

Jim Rohn