Five months ago, British adventurer Ross Edgley took on the monumental challenge of swimming around the entirety of mainland Great Britain. Yesterday, after 157 days at sea, Edgley returned to Margate, England and took his first steps on dry land after successfully conquering the Great British Swim. He set four new world records along the way.
Edgley set off on his journey to circumnavigate Great Britain on 1 June and has since swum 1,791 miles, enduring countless jellyfish stings, unbearable neck abrasions, and even a rotting tongue. Since he embarked, Edgley has relied on a support boat to rest between swimming sessions but has never once set foot on land.
During his first month, Edgley became the first person to swim the entire length of England’s South Coast, and also smashed a Great British Swim record by swimming 16 miles in nine hours. Then, setting another Great British Swim Record, Edgley braved the brutal Irish Sea and swam the treacherous 60 miles to get across it. The Great British Swim soon became the longest ever staged sea swim, and Edgley showed no signs of ever quitting until it was complete.
“I said I was going to try and swim all the way around Great Britain, so many people told me it couldn’t be done – it’s impossible – and I was like, ‘I agree with you, in theory, it looks like it can’t be done but I’m going to try’. Having done it now, what would be amazing is to see people shift their own personal barometer on what they think is possible,” Edgley said in an interview with Red Bull.
On 4 November 2018, four hundred people jumped into the icy waters of Kent in order to swim alongside Edgley as he completed the last half-mile of the Great British Swim. He was soon greeted on land by ecstatic friends and family to celebrate his historic achievement.
Check out some of Edgley’s inspiring video blogs that capture some of the most incredible moments of his journey.
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