Wenzhou swimmers triumph in English Channel crossing

A relay team of winter swimming enthusiasts from Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, swam the English Channel in less than 12 hours on Friday.

They chose to swim the shortest route across the channel, the 33.8 kilometers from Dover in the UK to Cap Gris Nez, a cape near Calais in France.

Huang Zhongda, Xie Derong, Zhao Jing and Xiang Qingqiang, took exactly 11 hours and 54 minutes to make the crossing, swimming more than 50 km in order to avoid obstacles and strong currents.

Despite it being summer, the biggest hurdle faced by the team was the chilly 16 C water temperature.

"We were fortunate to have favorable weather conditions, with a tail wind and tides traveling in the same direction," said Zhao.

Zhao, born in 1980, and team captain Xie, born in 1974, are experienced swimmers and have swum the Malacca Strait between Malaysia and Indonesia, and the Qiongzhou Strait between the mainland and Hainan, one of the three major straits in China.

Xie, a resident of Wenzhou's Longwan district, said that although the relay went smoothly for the most part, the final 6 km proved to be an immense test of their endurance. "We encountered counter currents that caused us to slow down," he said.

The idea of crossing the English Channel first came to them in 2019.

Training started several weeks before Friday's swim in the Sanqi Reservoir in Wencheng county, where the water temperature was similar to the English Channel.

Team member Huang, vice-president of the Wenzhou Winter Swimming Association, once held the Chinese speed record for swimming the Qiongzhou Strait in 2011.

Chen Xiongguang, also from Wenzhou, was the first person from China to attempt a solo swim across the English Channel in 1999, but failed due to the low sea temperature.

The English Channel crossing is one of the most famous global swimming challenges and is often referred to as the peak of endurance swimming. During the team's crossing, each team member swam for at least an hour before alternating until they reached France.

Fang Xiaoying in Hangzhou contributed to this story.