Swimmers head into the sea to join Ross for his final swim

Swimming

Meet the swimmers doing amazing things inspired by the Great British Swim

We catch up with some of the men and women, tackling everything from mental illness to world records on the back of the Great British Swim.

Written by Jennifer Bozon

9 min readPublished on 31.10.2018 · 18:03 UTC

As Ross Edgley approached the final stretch of his jaw-dropping 1,792-mile swim around Great Britain, he was accompanied to shore by 400 swimmers. Swimming in solidarity alongside Ross – undeterred by the bitterly cold water temperature – for many of them, this was more than an exciting morning paddle. It was a chance to meet the man who has inspired them to take on remarkable mental and physical challenges – both in their sporting and everyday lives. Here, eight swimmers share their stories.

400 swimmers join Ross for the final stretch of his Great British Swim
© Red Bull Content Pool

"Seeing the mental and physical barriers Ross has broke through on his Great British Swim just shows to me that you can always go further"

Inspired by Ross' mental fortitude, Liam Donegan, 26, from Hull, has his sights on his own deeply personal endurance challenge – a 48-hour swim raising money for men's mental health charity Andy's Man Club. "Seeing the mental and physical barriers that Ross has broke through on his Great British Swim just shows to me that you can always go further than you see of yourself," he says.

Having grappled with mental health problems at the end of last year and experienced the devastating impact of not speaking out, Liam is determined to lift the silence surrounding men's mental health. "If I can complete a 48-hour swim and break through that mental barrier, then it can get the message out to everyone that your mind is more powerful than you think. [It will] encourage men to speak out and ask for help, encourage people to challenge themselves and raise money for a charity that provides that safe place for men to speak."

"The message about finding determination and grit when faced with tough challenges really resonates with me"

After being diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer last year, it's been a challenging year for keen swimmer and OSS member Jody Jones. But despite major surgery and six months of chemotherapy, she's refused to let it stop her from swimming – or from achieving her goal of swimming the English Channel – and has drawn inspiration from Ross throughout her training.

"I’ve had to dig seriously deep, just as I will next year when I finally get my day trip with a difference to France," says the 40-year-old from Hertfordshire. "I can only imagine how many times Ross has had to dig deep on his incredible journey over the past few months.

"I have been able to keep my swim training going throughout my chemo. I managed a five-hour sea swim at Durley three weeks after completing my six months of chemo and, last weekend, was able to complete a four-hour sea swim in 12.5 degrees Celsius. Ross is an incredible inspiration to so many and I especially thought of him during my swim on Saturday.

"I've really enjoyed his vlogs, tweets and Facebook posts. The message about finding determination and grit when faced with tough or extreme challenges really resonates with me. The past 10-and-a-half months have been extremely challenging for me, my husband and our two young daughters – without swimming, it would’ve been even harder."

"Seeing Ross pushing himself every day is really inspiring. It gives me hope that it's possible to achieve what you set out to do"

Ross Edgley's Great British Swim was one of two important influences in Jacqui Hargrave's decision to swim Lake Windermere both ways in August next year. "I was looking for another challenge and Two-Way Windermere came up a few times, but I was hesitant," explains Jacqui, 47, from Yorkshire.

However, inspired by Ross' resilience, she decided to sign up and swim in memory of her best friend Jane, who sadly died from cancer this year. "Jane insisted that I put my swimming to great use and raise some money for the amazing St Michael’s hospice. [The staff] were without a doubt a bunch of amazingly dedicated, warm people. Jane was so well cared for, and there was nothing they wouldn’t do."

"Seeing Ross swimming and pushing himself every day is really very inspiring, and gave me hope that, with the right training and mindset, it is possible to achieve what you set out to do. For sure I know I’ll have difficult moments during my swim, but those are the times I’ll be digging deep and ploughing on."

"I have Cystic Fibrosis and this venture inspired me to move more and build up my lung capacity"

Since watching the Great British Swim, 25-year-old Vasileios Tsormpatzoudis, who has Cystic Fibrosis, has been inspired to take his fitness regime to the next level. "When I first heard about the challenge I thought it was something impossible," he says. "There I was reading about a guy who wanted to swim around Great Britain, and I was struggling to do a few burpees."

Although Vasileios already exercises regularly – which helps him to manage his CF symptoms – Ross has given him a newfound determination to further improve his lung capacity. "After hearing about the Great British Swim, I wanted to improve my conditioning. Ross' attitude motivated me to experiment with HIIT and now slowly I am trying to incorporate that into my exercise regime."

"His attitude towards this swim puts faith in me that humans can be awesome creatures when we want. It is not about proving someone wrong. It is the fact that he believed in himself, and his team. That right there, that is the mental switch that Ross turned on."

"I have MS and I just want to keep swimming!"

For Trevor Mose, who has MS, the Great British Swim has made him more determined than ever to continue open water swimming – and to target his next big challenge. "Since I was diagnosed with MS, swimming is the sport I have clung onto," explains the 41-year-old from Hertfordshire, who trains with Stevenage Swim Club Masters twice a week. "I've stopped running because I just can't do it, I'm struggling to walk about but I can hold onto my swimming."

"Just watching something like this and thinking actually, you know, that feels inspiring to me. I like Ross' thing about potential and the fact your body is about your potential but your mind tells you how you're going to use it. He comes across so positive all the time and that kind of mental attitude is really inspiring. I haven't got anything lined up yet but I'll definitely be doing some long-distance swims on the back of this.

Reflecting on joining Ross for the final leg of his Great British Swim he said: "You could see the boat from a long way off and you knew the boat, you recognised it from the vlogs. And then eventually you can see his arms, and as soon as he got closer and closer, everyone was just cheering – and being part of that was just amazing!"

"Gradually the Ross Effect took hold"

After a crisis of confidence taking part in her first triathlon this year, Trudy Thomas, 53, from Kent, "never wanted to put myself through that again".

"I wanted to give it up then," she says. "Most of all I wanted to stop the cycling and open water swimming. I was frightened on the bike and in the lake, and I felt I couldn't do it. I felt I'd pushed myself beyond my limit."

However, after hearing Ross speak about the power of the mind within his weekly GBS vlogs, something inside her clicked, restoring her confidence in her own abilities. "Gradually the Ross Effect took hold," she explains. "All the things he said resonated. The barriers are in my mind and less in my body. What would happen if I stopped worrying about what would happen and just launched myself from my mental equivalent of Margate, pushed the jellyfish of my imagination off my face and kept putting one arm over, and then the next, and the next, and what if I tried it with a smile?

"So I'm still running and swimming and cycling and smiling – and I will do another triathlon in 2019."

"I want to be the first woman to swim the length of the longest river in England and Wales"

In June next year, Melissa Comptom, 38, from Shropshire, will attempt to become the first woman to swim the length of the River Severn, inspired by Ross Edgley's Great British Swim. "I will be starting up in the Powys Hills in Mid-Wales," she explains, "it starts off as a bog and it goes into a stream, into a river. So you walk the first few days and then you swim – it’s 250 miles."

Melissa settled on the idea while swimming the Channel with her friends earlier this year – a challenge that happened to coincide with the first week of Ross' swim. "I was suffering from salt tongue round about the same time Ross was suffering from salt tongue, so there’s been these little links," she says.

Having followed Ross' progress from the very start, his ability to push on in the face of adversity has given her the confidence to believe that she too could set her own swim world record. "You don’t have to be the same best swimmer in the world, the fastest swimmer in the world, you just have to have that grit to complete something, and that’s what I like, because I’m not the fastest but I’ve got that determination."

"It was good to watch his story and be positive about not only recovering, but then pushing myself further"

It's been a frustrating six months for triathlete, Morgan Crawford, 24, from London. Suffering from an undiagnosed nerve injury, Morgan has been forced to put his training on hold, but has found the Great British Swim has helped him stay positive about his recovery.

"I’ve been suffering from nerve issues where they are being trapped in my lower spine and causing burning, numbness and twitching in my knees, calves and feet," he says. "It’s frustrating, especially seeing other people going out and doing stuff – you just feel like a slob. But watching Ross’ swim, him saying what the body can overcome and how it can adapt to everything... It was good to watch his story and be positive about not only recovering, but then pushing myself further.

Although unable to run and cycle, Morgan has continued to swim and joined Ross in Margate for the last stretch of his Great British Swim. "It was really good – good but cold! When he got to the buoy everyone got excited and no one was really thinking about being cold. It was definitely special."

For more information on where and how to swim safely outdoors, and to meet other swimmers, visit outdoorswimmingsociety.com.