In this season of records as a rarity, here is one from the deep end of the spectrum in the English Channel: Jackie Cobell, 56, became the slowest crosser of the stretch of open water made famous in such terms by Captain Matthew Webb in 1875, when she took 28 hours and 44 minutes to swim from Dover to Calais.
Strong tides and poor timing dictated that Mrs Cobell swam 64 miles instead of the most direct course of 21 miles. Back on August, 25 1875, Captain Webb became a pioneer of the crossing, covering Dover to Calais in less than 22 hours. The previous slowest crossing had belonged to Henry Sullivan, who in 1923 clocked 26hrs and 50mins. In setting the record, Mrs Cobell raised nearly £2,000 for the Huntingdon's Disease Association.
A resident of Tonbridge in Kent, the garden of England, the new record holder used to weigh 20 stone but started to train form her swim five years ago in a bid to get in trim, had a gastric bypass last November and lost eight stone in the past six months. She intends to give the Channel another go at some stage and is planning to complete the Escape from Alcatraz swim in America, a distance of two miles from the island prison to the city of San Francisco.
