There are some things I read about and think, sure, that would be out of my comfort zone but I could give it a go – one day, some day. And then there are other things, like Tracy Clark’s long distance swim across the English Channel for 12 hours and 46 minutes. These are challenges that champions tackle, and finish.
Based in the Netherlands, Tracy has now completed a number of amazing swims and next month will swim the 24km Gibraltar Strait from Spain to Morocco – incredible.
I am in awe of Tracy, her motivation and determination. I hope you enjoy her story, below.
Good luck for your swim across the Gibraltar Strait, Tracy! We’ll all be cheering you on!
– KATE –
Can you tell us a bit about you and your swimming challenges, and what your incentive to start long distance swimming was?
I grew up in West Auckland, New Zealand and was lucky enough to find my passion for swimming when I was 11 years old through a school friend. I took up competitive pool swimming and soon found I was better at ‘long distance’ which in those days was 800m and 1500m. Open water was not something that was popular ‘back then’. I left swimming in my late teens and only rediscovered it at the young age of 41! I literally woke up one day and decided I was going to swim the English Channel! Perhaps it was a touch of mid-life crises – but whatever it was – I hit the water and started training hard, something I hadn’t done for 25 years! At the time I had been living in Holland for six years so all my training was done in the cooler temperatures of the Northern Hemisphere which was perfect for this challenge.
