Hats off everyone!!

A big hats off today goes to Lisa Cummins - she completed a two-way swim of the Channel this weekend in 35 hours and 36 minutes! Amazing. Just think about that for a moment - she swam through most of Saturday's daylight, then all through the night, then through all of Sunday's daylight, and then through a bit more darkness before walking up onto the beach. What an amazing woman. She is the first Irish person to do a two-way crossing, and the 20th person ever.

You are a class act, Lisa.

And while our hats are off - big congratulations to a couple of other swimmers whose blogs I've been following (and who are helping me out with my research). Ollie Wilkinson successfully swam the Channel at the beginning of September in a very impressive 11 hours and 6 minutes, and Julieann Galloway made it in mid-August in an awesome 9 hours and 51 minutes. Both Ollie and Julieann have got great write-ups of their swims on their blogs (and Julieann has a funny video too on her blog, courtesy of Nick Adams). Inspiring stuff for anyone gearing up for a go next year.

Well done, one and all.

Sadly, both Lisa and Becky (from the Swimtrek trip) didn't get to swim because of the bad weather at the beginning of September. Lisa was offered a later spot, but it was too late for her support crew and she decided to postpone until next year. Becky was also offered a spot on the recent Spring tide, but she decided against it since the tide was too big to give her a decent chance at the British women's record (her primary goal), so she's also postponed until next year. So watch this space.