South African begins record at

South African begins record attempt to swim length of Britain on 1 July

A South African turned Briton will try to become the first person to swim the length of Britain this summer, facing the threats of sharks, jellyfish and rough seas.

South African begins record at

Sean Conway picNo one has ever tried this before – to swim 1,000 miles from Lands End to John O’ Groats. On Monday 1 July 2013 South African adventurer Sean Conway will start making his way up along the coast of England, Wales and Scotland.

During the two-month aquatic challenge Conway will promote swimming as he will be speaking to schools, colleges and swimming clubs. He will also raise money for War Child International, a charity supporting children in war-torn countries.

“I will be swimming further than the length of the Channel every single day while battling cold water, extreme hunger, loneliness and potential bacterial infection,” Conway said.

He is used to crazy sporting challenges as in 2011 he climbed Kilimanjaro dressed as a penguin just to make it more challenging. Most recently he competed in the inaugural World Cycle Race, completing 16,000 miles in 116 days,three quarters of the way with a fractured spine after he was knocked off his bike in the US. He already has some experience crossing Britain as in 2008 he cycled 1,300 miles across the island.

Explaining why he decided to swim Britain, Conway said, “I wanted to challenge myself again. It’s my oxygen. I’ve realised I am good at being hungry, tired, cold and wet. I also wanted to do something in Britain and at the time I was writing my Land’s End to John O’Groats cycle book. It was then I thought about swimming Britain but thought it had been done before. I then found out that it had not only never been done, no one has even attempted it,”

He will be working with swimwear brand Speedo to inspire local communities to get fit through swimming. They will encourage swimming as a more effective way to exercise than other activities such as going to the gym or running.

“It’s a great type of fitness. I loved how I felt when I was bike fit but did feel it was very leg oriented. Swimming fit feels more evenly spread around my body. It’s also really helped my back recover from the accident which has been great,” Conway wrote on his blog.

routeHis route will start at Land’s End, skirt the north coast of Devon, then across to Wales. After swimming along the West coast of Wales he will cut North to the Isle of Man and next onto Scotland. He will then make his way around the Hebrides before cutting east along the North coast of Scotland and finishing at John O’Groats.

“Although this is a swim challenge I still want the main focus to be adventure and exploring a part of the UK that many people don’t get to see,” he stressed.

Conway was born in Zimbabwe and brought up on the east coast of  South Africa. He is described as “an endurance adventurer and self confessed nutter” who “takes pleasure in mentally and physically pushing himself way beyond what he thought possible.”

He started his endurance adventures with a mile swim across a lake at the age of 10 and then again at 12. Sean then took to another water-sport and throughout his teens he competed in many endurance kayak (K1 & K2) marathons.

You can follow Conway’s progress at:

www.swimmingbritain.co.uk

www.facebook.com/SpeedoUK

@Conway_Sean