From Peterborough Lido to the English Channel: Disabled swimmer completes 'epic' 29-hour swim to France

A Cambridgeshire swimmer with complex regional pain syndrome has completed a record-breaking swim across the English Channel.

Sophie Etheridge, 31, spent 29 hours and four minutes in the water before landing in France – which, while not yet ratified, is expected to mean she has completed the longest ever successful Channel swim.

Sophie also believes she’s the first person ever to complete the swim with her condition, which causes severe and persistent pain in part of the body.

Complex regional pain syndrome is usually triggered by an accident or injury: in Sophie’s case, she was knocked off her bike by a car while at university.

Sophie, who grew up in Hastings before eventually settling in Godmanchester, was a swim teacher and lifeguard as a teenager before her injury.

She struggled to return to swimming afterwards, but has since become an open water coach and activist campaigning for better conditions for disabled swimmers.

Reflecting on her latest achievement, she said she’s “utterly overwhelmed” by the support she’s received after the exhausting swim.

Among those to congratulate Sophie was Peterborough City Council (PCC) after she undertook some of her “rigorous training” at the council-run Peterborough Lido.

The Friends of Peterborough Lido group also cheered on the “inspirational Sophie” during her “epic” swim.

Sophie herself told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that the lido is a "fantastic facility" because "you can swim there for much longer periods of time than you can in the normal leisure centre pools".

"There aren't many people that swim the sort of distances I do and I never swim in open water alone so the lido has become an in between for me where I am open to the elements and swimming the required distances but, I am safe because of the lifeguards," she added.

Through her accomplishment, Sophie has raised more than £4,500 for the Swimming Teachers’ Association’s (STA) charity campaign, ‘Starlight’, aimed at providing free training for swim teachers to qualify them as specialists in disability swimming.

She has asked that her supporters donate to the campaign and has also extended her thanks to her team, including pilot Lance Oram, who supported her Channel swim.

“Throughout the swim my crew did more than they will know,” she said.

Rough waters on the second night meant she became disoriented, but Mr Oram had the solution: “following a circle of fairy lights we attached to the back [of his boat] all the way, eventually, to Calais!”

Strong tides and wind also made it harder to swim in a straight line, meaning Sophie zig-zagged for great lengths between Dover and Calais.

She then returned home by boat for a much-needed rest.

Sophie is the founder of the Adaptive and Disabled Open Water Swimmers (ADOWS) campaign group.

She is also a Level 2 Open Water Swimming Coach and marathon swimmer.

You can find her JustGiving page here.