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Our knowledge of the human body has improved a touch since Matthew Webb, the Shropshire-born son of a surgeon, became the first person to swim unaided across the English Channel in 1875.
Channel grease (a mixture of Vaseline and wool fat) is used instead the porpoise oil with which Webb smeared his body for insulation and ease of movement.
And the mixture of cherry brandy and beaten eggs that early swimmers used to consume has, mercifully, been replaced by complex carbohydrate liquid food, vitamins and pain killers.
But the fact remains that swimming the 22 nautical miles between Dover and Cap Gris Nez - the shortest distance between England and France - remains one of the hardest and most prestigious endurance events in the world.
For years Stephen Hunt, a 21-year-old actor in the Australian soap Neighbours, had heard stories of the challenge and, as junior Australia swimmer, had dreamed of making the crossing.
Last month that dream became a reality, though for long stretches it was closer to the stuff of nightmares.
To most observers, the tale of Stephen's swim across the Channel is a clear example of a precocious young Aussie taking his body beyond its physical limits.
On the other hand, it is also a clear example of the power of mind over body.
On Stephen's back were written the words "For Bill", a reference to his uncle, Bill Hunt, who died of Aids 15 years ago.
The swim was a way of honouring his uncle's life and raising money for various Aids charities, including the Terence Higgins Trust.
Without that motivation it is doubtful he would have made it.
If anyone is crazy enough to think that joining the 100 or so people who swim the Channel each year would be an enjoyable experience consider the following:
- All swimmers develop some degree of hypothermia, an abnormally low body temperature.
- The quickest realistic time to make the crossing is 10hrs - Stephen took 12hrs 12mins.
- At no time, including during feeding, is a swimmer allowed to touch the escort boat.
- Stephen was stung by jelly fish seven times, including once in his trunks.
And if all those are successfully negotiated, there is also sea sickness, diesel fumes, passing tankers, flotsam and swelling of the throat from swallowing salt water to contend with. A handful of people have died attempting the swim.
These include Swiss Ueli Staub, who died last year after taking caffeine pills as a stimulant and suffering a heart attack.
However, the greatest obstacle is the mental battle.
For at least two hours before the sun rises the swim takes place in complete darkness other than for a spotlight on the escort boat.
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"They said that if I didn't swim hard enough I'd get hypothermic and they would pull me out " |
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Stephen Hunt |
All a swimmer has to aim for is hourly feeds for the first six hours, increased to half-hourly thereafter, passed down to him on a stick.
Perhaps the hardest point occurs between five and seven hours into the swim when the body exhausts its glycogen reserves - the usual source of energy - and switches to burning its fat deposits.
It is essential a swimmer puts on weight before the event - Stephen put on three stone - and then train in the cold waters off Dover.
What happens next is a true marvel of nature.
When the body is repeatedly exposed to cold water it shifts the fat deposits around the midriff to areas where it is needed more, for instance behind the kidneys.
It is for fuel, however, that the excess fat is required first and foremost.
The switch between the burning of glycogen and fat, a process that takes half an hour, results in exhaustion and a feeling of utter despondency in the swimmer.
Body changes
As a low point for Stephen, it was surpassed only by the feeling of missing the peninsula of Cap Gris Nez by a mile and being thrown out into the bay beyond it, adding two hours to his swim.
"I decided then that I would not swim hard any more. I just plodded along. I was exhausted.
"They all kicked me up the backside from the boat and said that if I didn't swim hard enough I'd get hypothermic and they would pull me out.
"On the boat my sister was crying. I was crying. It was horrible."
With feeds now increased to every 20 minutes as extreme exhaustion became an issue, and the back-up team worrying that he was not responding properly - a sign of hypothermia - it was decided that Stephen would be allowed one final chance to complete the swim.
With the thought of his uncle, and the £100,000 he was intending to raise, uppermost in his mind, he made one final push against the tide and landed in France.
Would he do it again: "Never".
[Nando Times]
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Last Revised at December 10, 2007 by Lusine Kazoyan, M.D.
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