Sponsored by
Swimmer aims for double Channel crossing
ATHLETE Liane Llewellyn is preparing for her biggest challenge yet – swimming from Dover to Calais and back.
Liane, of Denholme, Bradford, will be attempting to swim the 45-mile round trip from July 13 and is expecting it will take more than 20 hours.
If successful, she will become only the third British woman to do so. She completed a one-way Channel swim in 2005.
Liane, a former Halifax, City of Bradford and Bradford Dolphin Swimming Club member, is hoping to raise 5,000 for Bradford Outward Bound Association so disadvantaged children can enjoy outdoors activities.
She works at Fairfield Hospital, Bury as a senior physiotherapist, and has been in training for the past two years.
Last summer she completed over 80 miles in open water competitions on top of all her outdoor training.
Her dedication saw her win the British Long Distance Swimming Association's Swimmer of the Year award in 2008.
She started her outdoor training this year by training for two weeks in the sea in Tenerife.
She did 10- and 12-hour swims on some days and two or three hours twice a day on the other days.
She has also been doing regular weekly training at a dam high up on the moors in Lancashire.
In May she spent seven days training in Dover harbour to help her get used to the sea conditions and water temperature in the English Channel.
She has since swum around Coniston (13miles in six hours) and from Newburgh to Tayport (15.5 miles in five hours) where she set off an hour before high water so she spent the first hour swimming against the tide.
Last week she did a seven hour swim at the dam followed by a Coniston swim (16.5miles in 7hours 50 minutes) on Saturday.
Last year she was the winner in the gruelling 21.6 mile British Long Distance Swimming Association Loch Lomond competition where all but two competitors retired.
It is renowned for being one of the toughest distance swims and last year swimmers had to contend with a strong head wind and rough water on top of the extremely cold temperature.
To make a donation please visit www.justgiving.com/liane llewellyn
Email to a friend
Print this page- Three-inch blanket of snow heading our way today
- Alan Shearer in list of favourites for Leeds and England jobs: Latest odds
- Barnsley’s Keith Hill invokes Fawlty Towers over link with Leeds job
- McCormack feels United search can be narrowed down
- Redfearn throws down gauntlet as queue builds at Elland Road
- Rival chips in with £500,000 to restore the original Harry Ramsden’s
- Visit from Princess as Serbian culture celebrated
- SportsTalk: Leeds United’s manager search, Super League and Calcutta Cup
- Libraries aren’t like supermarkets, they are magical places where dreams begin
- Strategic review will lead to job losses at Yorkshire Bank
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: -1 C to 1 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Light rain
Temperature: 1 C to 6 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North west
