Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 126, January 2020 | Page 40

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10 Second
When we came across the remarkable story of Comrades runner-turned-swimmer Howard Warrington’s successful swim
across the English Channel in July 2018, we just had to share it here in the magazine. Besides the incredibly tough physical
challenges he overcame to go collect some pebbles on a French beach, it is also a wonderful story about perseverance and
the mental tricks an endurance athlete must use to reach that finish line. – BY SEAN FALCONER
The water is extremely cold, jellyfish often sting the
swimmers, and the tides change during one’s swim,
meaning that it is nearly impossible to swim in a
straight line across the Channel. Instead swimmers
have to execute an ‘S’ to account for the drift they
will inevitably experience, thus lengthening the swim
considerably – and they have to swim even harder to
make sure they don’t drift into the designated ferry
route. If that happens, they get plucked out of the water
immediately by their accompanying safety boat. Even if
they are just 100m from finishing. It has happened.
The meticulous records kept by the Channel
Swimming Association (CSA) show that more people
have climbed Mount Everest successfully than have
swum the Channel. That’s because only one of out
every six swimmers makes it all the way. It is that
tough! For that reason, there are strict rules governing
these swims – only experienced swimmers with an
established long distance background are considered
for one of the coveted slots in a packed season. So
let’s just say that Howard Warrington didn’t exactly fit
the bill when he applied in 2017. Yet just a year later
he succeeded where many others have failed, through
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ISSUE 126 JANUARY 2020 / www.modernathlete.co.za
Howard and
Elmarie Warrington
sheer courage, dogged determination, the unflinching,
almost telepathic support of wife Elmarie, and the
unique filing system in his head, developed while
running the Comrades Marathon.
Endurance Junkie
Howard (55) was born in Stellenbosch and has lived in
Somerset West since the age of five. He and Elmarie
have two daughters, both now in their mid-20s, and
he runs a private brokerage firm from his home. He
took up running some 25 years ago, starting with half
marathons and then graduating to the marathons and
Swimming Association
A
s the proverbial crow flies, the shortest
distance between the English and French
coasts is 35km, between the famous cliffs
of Dover and Cap Griz Nez on the French side.
The English Channel is one of the world’s busiest
waterways, with a multitude of ferries, freighters and
tankers criss-crossing the Channel daily, and it is also
one of the biggest, toughest bucket list items for long
distance swimmers in the world.