On 17 July 2024, Clive Allford as part of a team, completed an extraordinary challenge: a two-way English Channel swim covering nearly 80Kms! The team consisted of 6 other members of the Royal Logistic Corps (RLC).
Setting off from Samphire Hoe, Dover, England, at 0630 the Team quickly established itself in the 16°C water of the English Channel. Some strong swimming in the morning put the team ahead of the changing tide, allowing rapid progress across one of the busiest shipping channels in the world. Several Ferries, two huge oil tankers and a small freighter we passed; they all look massive when your eye level is just above the sea!
With a strong first leg completed the tide was in our favour to assist with the return swim and rapid progress was made with 3 swimmers getting close to 6000 meters during their hour swim (240 lengths of a 25m pool!). With Dover in sight, night fell, and the swimming continued in the pitch black. The progress made during the day, swimming with the tide had pushed us slightly to the north of Dover. As we made the turn for the final push into Dover, the Team’s progress slowed as we fought against a strong tide pushing us out into the North Sea, three hours later we’d managed to cover the last 10km and arrived at the Port of Dover, swim complete.
In total we took 22 hours and 16 minutes to swim to France and back!
Less than 45 teams have completed a two-way swim of the English Channel since records began in 1966 and only three of these teams were military. The RLC now holds the record for the quickest 2-way swim for a mixed relay team and have our names proudly displayed on the wall of the White Horse Inn in Dover, the Channel Swim pub. This record is matched by the nearly £10000 that we have raised for various military charities. A massive thank you to all for supporting me in this endeavour!
Huge thank you to Clive for raising an incredible £2,179 for Combat Stress. You can still support Clive by visiting his fundraising page https://www.justgiving.com/page/clive-allford-1714838022457
