A RESIDENT of Malborough has completed one of swimming’s greatest challenges, a solo crossing of the English Channel.

For Sharon Bellamy, 55, it was the culmination of a lifelong goal that has required years of training to become strong enough - both mentally and physically - to complete the crossing.

The swim began on Monday, September 29 at 02:40, on Samphire Hoe near Dover Harbour. Though in reality, it began far sooner.

“Swimming from Jersey to France gave me confidence”, Sharon retold. “You learn how to swim with the tides. Then I completed a 21-mile swim back and forth across Lake Windermere. It helped me to learn my forever speed, which meant I knew I’d be fast enough to swim with the tides in French waters.”

You can’t just turn up in Dover and ask to swim the Channel. The crossing is heavily regulated and only those deemed fit enough to try are able to attempt it. Sharon had made the crossing as part of a relay before but going on her own required dedication.

“To qualify to swim the Channel solo, I attended 4 Sam Jones Swim Camps in Cornwall, in which I needed to complete a 6-hour swim in waters of 16 degrees or below.”

With her medical passed and much experience under her belt, Sharon received a text message on Thursday, September 25, informing her that she would be swimming the following Monday. “I nearly cried. I was definitely ready, but still uncertain”, she recalled.

She met her pilots - Rob and Mike - from the Channel Swimming and Piloting Federation, shortly before 2am. They then boarded the boat Anastasia alongside her valuable crew; coach Kate, husband Lee and son Ethan.

Sharon remembers her first few strokes off Samphire Hoe clearly. “I was very glad I started in the dark and that I couldn’t see France. I didn’t want to. I just kept swimming constantly into a little pool of light being shone from the boat”.

It was important for Sharon to stay hydrated and fuelled during her swim, however, at no point was she allowed to stop for rest or hold onto any part of Anastasia. She was given drink on the end of a long rope, alternating hourly between 250ml of Ucan Energy, followed by a warm Ribena, which Sharon described as “delicious”.

Sharon also had to deal with very difficult sea conditions, which made eating solids almost impossible. Force four sea conditions - which feature small, longer waves with fairly frequent whitecaps and a breeze of between 11 and 16 knots - meant any attempt to eat from pots was spoiled by seawater.

“I was comfortable with Force four conditions. I knew I could handle it. The sun was on my back and I felt calm and strong, but eating solids was disgusting.”

Sharon took three and a half hours to reach the South West shipping lane. At this point, her many friends and family who were tracking her progress online would’ve been mistaken for thinking she was swimming in the wrong direction.

However, such is the strength of the tides at this point that all Channel swimmers are pulled away from Calais, towards the rocky outcrop of Cap Gris-Nez.

“After 12 hours of swimming, my coach Kate told me to up my game and give a hard hour to prevent me adding additional hours to my crossing. The fast-flowing tides in French waters are strong and without a hard swim, I would’ve missed the headland and had to swim further.”

“I found the strength to increase my stroke rate and reach the correct location in the water that meant I could finish near Cap Gris-Nez. The choppy waves were now hurting my left side, and while I was moving more slowly due to the tides, I never lost my pace.”

Sharon had hoped for a beach landing at daylight, and thanks to an almighty sustained effort and the roaring of her crew on Anastasia, she managed to achieve her wish, landing at Pointe du Riden, just south of the lighthouse on Cap Gris-Nez.

“I remember seeing the bottom of the sea floor and nearly crying into my goggles with relief. I knew I was going to make it.”

Kate joined Sharon for the final 500 metres. When the depth eventually became shallow enough to stand - she put her feet down and unsteadily made her way onto the beach.

She stumbled three times before regaining her balance, climbing fully out of the water and waving her arms, before the hooter sounded from her pilots that meant Sharon had completed her life’s ambition. She swam the crossing in 15 hours and 14 minutes and collected a precious pebble from the beach.

“I really wanted to talk for the first time in ages, but Kate insisted I had to swim back to the boat first. The sun was setting and it was beautiful. I just felt so incredibly lucky.”

“For the first time ever, I got cold on the boat on the way home. I started to feel sick, but I looked out over the Channel and couldn’t believe I had covered all that distance in such tough conditions. Again, I just felt so lucky that I had found the strength to finish it, because so many try it and don’t finish.”

Sharon returned home to Devon the day after and was back swimming at Quayside Leisure Centre on Wednesday morning. “I was scared to move my arms over, but it was actually alright! I was even strong enough to ring the church bells in Salcombe the day after!”

What comes next? Sharon doesn’t know what her next personal swimming challenge will be, but the former Kingsbridge Kingfishers head coach knows she wants to help others.

“I want to become an open water swimming coach. I don’t know anyone else who lives locally who has swam the Channel, and I’d love to help someone else achieve it.”

In her final reflections, Sharon said “It’s an overwhelming lap of the gods out there, it’s tough, tough swimming. After being told to push again and again, it’s not the body that gives up. Your body will do whatever your mind tells it to do.”