“Pure bliss” as Martha Wood, of Manchester, successfully completes her 21-mile swim across the English Channel last week.
While most locals were just trying to make it through a heat wave last Saturday, one local resident was across the Atlantic conquering one of the world’s most challenging endurance swims.
On August 6, Manchester’s Martha Wood swam 21 miles across the famously challenging English Channel in 12 hours and 25 minutes. Jumping off the support boat Anastasia with crew Elaine Howley and Alexandra Ellis, Martha swam into shore for the start at Shakespeare Beach in Dover UK at 3:47 a.m. UK time.
According to the BBC, “The Channel” between England and France is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, with 600 tankers and 200 ferries passing through it every day. And it’s a brass ring for long distance swimmers. There have been 4,133 Channel swims recorded since 1875, and because of the incredibly strong currents and water temperatures of the channel, most swims take place in August. In all, 2,428 swims have been “solo” endurance swims, like Martha Wood’s. The rest are taken on by relay teams.
Oh yes, and Martha’s performance came in more than one hour faster than the average soloist, who completes the 21-mile course in 13 hours, 33 minutes, 54 seconds. (Not that anyone’s counting).
Martha trains at Singing Beach 12 months a year. She also swims in Boston with the L Street Ice Swimmers and Charles River Masters Swimming.
Wood completed her swim in accordance with English Channel rules: wearing only a suit, earplugs and goggles. Crew Elaine Howley and Alexandra Ellis, both from the Boston area played a vital part of the team, looking out for Martha’s safety and throwing liquid feeds out to her from their boat every 45 minutes. (Swimmers are not allowed to touch the boat).
Reports were that it was a perfect day on the channel, “the stars fading to a beautiful sunrise and calm, warm waters” according to Wood’s friend and neighbor, Jen Desimone.
As she approached Cap Gris Nes for the finish, the water got choppy and the swim slower going. Captain of Anastasia Eddie Spelling instructed the crew to urge Martha to swim fast into shore before the tide changed and pushed her north (with risk of missing landing on the Cap and potentially adding six additional hours to the swim).
Landing on a rocky coastline on Cap Gris Nes, Martha clambered onto a rock to clear the water and the boat horn sounded to indicate that the swim was completed. She then swam to a dingy that accompanied her close to shore, climbed in and rode back in the boat to Dover. Asked how she felt upon completion, Martha said, “Pure bliss. With a slightly ‘barfy’ undertone.” As one might imagine, endurance swims are nothing new to Martha. Other “big” marathon swims include the SCAR Swim Challenge in April 2022, which involved four consecutive days of swimming a total of 40 miles along the Salt River in Arizona. She also completed the “20 Bridges” swim around Manhattan (28.5 current assisted miles) in August, 2021 and the 25K “Buster” swim at the Kingdom Games in Vermont in 2019. Martha said she’s completed many other, shorter challenges.
This last swim tackling the English Channel is the longest swim timewise for Martha. She reports that she has recovered well and will return to home to Manchester later this week.
