Another swimmer aiming to make it across the Channel

Saturday 21 July 2018

An Australian man, who lives and works in Guernsey, is preparing to join an exclusive club today - by swimming the English Channel.

Glen Knudsen; who moved to Guernsey with his family, is Senior Manager at Marina Health and Leisure and Kings Premier Health Club so being physically fit comes with the day job for him.

However, after moving to Guernsey and continuing to embrace his love of sea swimming as he had at home in Australia's warmer temperatures, Mr Knudsen said he soon made friends with other open water swimmers and decided to set himself one of the world's ultimate physical challenges.

Statistics suggest that few people succeed at swimming the English Channel - just 30% according to historical figures - and the challenge is known as "the Everest of open-water swimming" with 1832 different swimmers successfully completing the cross-Channel swim compared to 4833 different climbers who have successfully summited Everest.

To prepare, Mr Knudsen has spent 20 months training for his attempt later this month and was in confident spirits before travelling to the UK from where he'll swim between Dover and Calais, starting early this morning.

60-year-old Mr Knudsen said it has been a challenge which has inspired him since he was a child, when he first read about a man who had successfully completed the cross-channel swim. Having met local Channel swimmers including Paul Mason, Roger Allsopp and the "sea donkey" himself, Adrian Sarchet; Mr Knudsen said it quickly became something he had to do.

Mr Knudsen is raising money for Hope for Guernsey with his cross-Channel attempt having been inspired by previous Channel swimmer Mr Allsopp who supports the work the organisation does in funding research into cancer treatments.

Mr Knudsen's cross-channel attempt was due to start from Shakespeare Beach in Dover and he will cross some of the busiest shipping lanes in Europe during his swim.  More than 600 commercial ship movements and between 80 and 100 ferry crossings are made between Dover and Calais each day. 

He is accompanied by a guard boat and a support crew, including local cross channel swimmer James Harrison who is seen in the video below, helping Mr Knudsen in his training programme. 

Our club manager Glen is packing ahead of his #englishchannel swim attempt. Did you know that there are lots of rules to be followed, including regulation hats, costumes and no touching! This means food will be given via a pole! #swim #charitychallenge #fundraising #endurance pic.twitter.com/dd16IN9kYt

— Marina Health Gsy (@MarinaHealthGsy) July 18, 2018

To follow Mr Knudsen's in his cross channel attempted use this link. His guard boat is called Gallivant. 

Donations to Hope for Guernsey can be made here