Call Sign September 2008 - Page 10 - CHANNEL SWIMMERS SUCCESS!

Ella in the Channel In the April issue of Call Sign, we wrote of Dial-a-Cab driver Andrew O’Regan (B92), but more especially of his 15-year old daughter Ella. While most of the country were thinking of holidays, Ella and members of the Clissold Swimming Club in Hackney were attempting to relay swim the English Channel. Ella wrote to us on behalf of the club, asking whether we would consider being a sponsor for their Channel relay in July. Naturally we said yes and following several months of training, the big day arrived. She told Call Sign how the day went… "Everything has been so busy and crazy! From the evening of Thursday 24th July, the team and were staying in a Margate youth hostel waiting for the call to say we could go! In the meantime, we had a training session every morning in the sea to keep us prepared and we all took turns at cooking for 22 people at each meal. I loved being in Margate; the atmosphere was relaxed as we spent most days lazing around on the beach. Not knowing when we were going to be called for the swim was difficult, but we were fourth in line for both of the boats we wanted and had to wait for the solo swimmers to do their swims before we could go. We got the call on Sunday evening to say both boats for both relay teams were to be at Dover Marina by 5.30am Monday morning and ready to be at Shakespeare Beach (where the swim started) by 6am. It’s so hard to put the whole experience into words... it was just incredible. We had the most crazy team names that were influenced by the Dr Seuss books. My team was The star belly sneetches and I was team captain. The other team were Dr Derring’s singing herrings! The weather was lovely at 6am that morning - which also helped the mood! Both our teams started off at the same time as the horn went. I was the second to swim. The sea was lovely - nice and wavy, just as I like it! As you swim, you lose sense of time and	CHANNEL SWIMMERS SUCCESS!
	Team members Abi, Ella and Devon The happy team at Le Cap Gris-Nez
	literally think about nothing. You enter a Zen-like state and it becomes rather surreal! I kept up a decent pace and covered a good distance for my one-hour swim. Everyone swam for one-hour, even though the tides were against some more than others. My team were very supportive to all the team members whilst they were swimming and together we had a really successful day. We completed the swim in 11 hours and 34 minutes - beating our target of 12 to 14 hours. The other team finished 12 minutes behind us and even though we were really all one big team and it wasn’t a race, I did feel a sneaky sense of pride that we made it before the senior team, as earlier that day they had made a joke they’d be waiting for us with their deck chairs on the beach! We landed on a beach to the right of le cap Gris-Nez (the point of France closest to England) and all swam for the last 200metres, allowing Tom Grilles, the last swimmer in the relay, to reach France first. He had to get out unaided before the rest of us for the swim to be ratified. As my feet touched the rocky shores of France, a huge sense of achievement and emotion ran	through me, along with a buzz of excitement. The star belly sneetches had made it and successfully reached our destination proving that all our hard training had paid off. We cheered and jumped up and down with excitement. We picked up some rocks, swam back to the boat and sped back to England by 9.30pm. It was something of an anti-climax that it was all over, but nothing could take away my pride in the determination, love and team spirit that allowed us to complete that huge challenge. I will never, ever forget the day I crossed the English Channel - undoubtedly the proudest day of my life. Also, our sincere thanks to Call Sign for being a sponsor." As for proud dad Andy – who was on the boat for the whole trip – he told Call Sign: "I was so impressed with the team’s hard swimming and not a hint of moaning from anyone. Naturally my wife Tina and I are so proud of Ella, but that pride also extends to the whole team who constantly supported each other throughout their long training period and the Channel relay crossing as well. Well done to both teams. They were brilliant…"

Call Sign Home Page

Page 11