My
secret life
Warren
conquers
the English
Channel
On 20 August 2018, National Retail
Operations and Customer Insights
Manager Warren Gould swam the
34 kilometre English Channel in
10 hours 10 minutes, making him
one of roughly 170 Australians to
successfully cross the Channel.
The idea of doing a long distance
open water swim first occurred to
Warren while he was living in Perth
a few years ago, but it wasn’t until
he participated in Officeworks’
Authentic Leadership Program
three years ago that he made it
a concrete goal. Upon hearing of
Warren’s goal, Adrian Newport
(Business Operations Manager)
put Warren in touch with someone
who had completed the swim from
which Warren took his very first steps
towards his goal.
18
To prepare for the event, Warren
had to build his tolerance to cold
water (with water temperatures
averaging from 16-18 degrees
Celsius) and endurance to last the
distance. It took him almost two
years of swimming, building up to
over 40 kilometres a week - that’s like
swimming the equivalent of a half-
marathon every day with one or two
full marathons thrown in per week
…while there are no
sharks, there are lots
of jellyfish. I’ll take
jellyfish over sharks
any day!
for good measure. He also spent lots
of time in the bay to get used to the
cold water, which in winter can get
as cold as eight or nine degrees.
“There are no wetsuits allowed, you
have to swim in speedos and while
there are no sharks, there are lots of
jellyfish. I’ll take jellyfish over sharks
any day!” said Warren. “There
are also lots of tankers, ferries and
freight ships to negotiate as the
Channel is the busiest shipping
lane in the world.”
Upon completing the English
Channel swim, Warren reached solid
ground just under the lookout at
Cap Gris-Nez in France. “It was a bit
of a lonely affair. As the swimmer, I’m
the only person allowed to step foot
on French soil, and with my support
crew anchored off the coast, it’s only
me there when the swim is officially
finished,” said Warren. “It was a
pretty special moment, you can
hear the cheers from the boat and
there were a few people gathered
at the lookout so, I got a few cheers
from them as well.”
Once back on the boat, the
celebration became more
emotional with everyone who had
supported Warren’s goals and
helping him across the Channel,
and realising that moment is
something everyone was invested
in. Once back on British shores, there
was only one thing left to do - go to
the pub in Dover where Warren got
to sign his name on the wall and
celebrate with a drink!