ROSS EDGLEY COMPLETES GREAT BRITISH SWIM SMASHING FOUR WORLD RECORDS
7th Nov 2018
Yesterday, Ross Edgley became the first person to swim around mainland Great Britain. After 157 days at sea and 2000 miles later the adventurer returned to the same spot he started his epic journey with four new World records.
In July he became the first person to swim the entire South Coast. In August he surpassed the record for the longest ever staged sea swim and fastest Lands End to John O’Groats. And then on completion of the Great British Swim, he became the first person to swim around Great Britain without setting foot on land.
The Great British Swim is equivalent to swimming The Channel 100 times, and to do this Ross has consumed 1,884,000 calories. Surprisingly, he hasn’t taken a single day off due to sickness or injury and has endured gruelling conditions, including Storm Ali and Storm Callum while acquiring 37 jellyfish stings and a disintegrating tongue. He also got through five rolls of gaffer tape to fix broken skin and three kilograms of Vaseline for chaffing!
Dean Jackson, HUUB’s Founder and Owner, commented “Working with Ross has taught us a lot about durability, saltwater and chaffing! It was a unique challenge, which required careful preparation of equipment including customisation of a whole collection of HUUB wetsuits to cater for estimated weight loss, ranging from his current size to a few stones lighter.”
Three hundred swimmers joined Ross Edgley for the swim into shore where a huge crowd waited to celebrate as the Red Bull Matadors put on a fantastic air show above. On stepping foot on dry land, Ross revealed, "It feels a bit weird on land, a bit too solid for my liking! I almost fell over when I started to jog into shore. Setting out, I knew the Great British Swim would be the hardest thing I've ever attempted. I was very naïve at the start, and there were moments where I really did begin to question myself. My feelings now are pride, tiredness and relief. It's been a team effort and it's thanks to the whole crew, the support I've received from the public and Red Bull that I've been able to complete it. To see so many smiling faces here today is amazing, and if I can take one thing away, it's that I’ve inspired people, no matter how small that inspiration may be."
The 33-year-old strongman had previously rope climbed the height of Mount Everest, swam the Caribbean while dragging a 100lb tree, and did a marathon while pulling a Mini Cooper.
The Great British Swim was filmed by Red Bull, who produced weekly vlogs on their YouTube channel with 100% honesty and transparency documenting how the body breaks down during 150 days at sea under chronic fatigue. You can watch them all on their YouTube channel here
Are you interested in the new 2018 Ranges from the main triathlon brands? Follow the links below to discover more: