Download - Becoming a Channel Swimmer

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The project ran from May 2009to September 2012, and myfieldwork covered locations asdiverse as the West Midlands,the Lake District, Dover andJersey (UK), Cork (Ireland),Gozo (Malta) and SanFrancisco and San Diego (US).During the research period, Ialso completed 4 marathonswims (Round Jersey, Jerseyto France, the English Channeland the Catalina Channel), andas I travelled around, I met upwith prospective, successful

and unsuccessful Channelswimmers, conducting 45formal interviews, as well asuncountable swimmingconversations on beaches, orin saunas, hot tubs, bars,cafes, hotels, living rooms, andthe back of my campervan.This magazine sets out someof the key findings from theresearch. For more details,please visit the address below.

Aquatic SociologyOver two and a half years, I carefully recorded my ownexperiences of training for an English Channel swim, aswell as studying training communities and locations,interviewing swimmers, reading blogs and forum postings,and generally immersing myself in the Channel swimmingworld. The aims of the project were to explore both thesocial workings of an extreme sporting subculture aboutwhich very little is known, and to use Channel swimmingas a means of thinking about what counts as a sporting /fit body in contemporary society.

My name is Karen Throsby, andI am a sociologist at theUniversity of Warwickspecialising in issues of gender,technology and the body.Following my decision at theend of 2008 to train for a 2010English Channel swim, I quicklyrealised that this was a uniqueopportunity to bring together mycombined research interestsand swimming obsessions toform this project.In 2010, an article in theGuardian about the researchdescribed me as an "aquaticsociologist" - what better jobdescription could there be?

Welcome

Becoming a Channel SwimmerSeptember, 2012

Enjoy!


Many of the women Iinterviewed talked aboutswimming in relation to theirlives as women.Older women, whose bodiesare often devalued incontemporary society, talkedabout how it gave them prideand a sense of worth thatthey didn't always get inother aspects of their lives.Others talked aboutswimming as an escape fromthe demands of domesticlabour and other caringresponsibilitites. As onefemale swimmer noted:

"It's a chance to besomething other than theircook and nurse"

Women's everyday livesaffected their ability toparticipate in marathonswimming. But conversely,for some, it provided a relieffrom the burden of thoseresponsibilities, as well as anopportunity to thinkdifferently aboutconventional expectationsabout women's lives andbodies.

"you kind of disappear as you getolder […]. This is my way of notquite disappearing just yet"(female US swimmer)

"Man up!": Swimming and GenderIn many ways, gender seems irrelevant to Channel swimming. Separate male and female recordsare kept, but men and women train together, and with the exception of different costumeregulations, the requirements for completing a swim are exactly the same. Nevertheless, there aresome significantly gendered aspects to the process of becoming a Channel swimmer.

In the course of the research, I was told repeatedly that "women can be just as good as men" atChannel swimming, but while it is widely accepted that gender is a terrible predictor of swimmingability, femininity is continually used as the marker of weakness in everyday conversation. Forexample, swimmers who are slow to get into the cold water are often urged to "stop being such awoman", to "man up", or to "grow a pair". For both male and female swimmers, then, to swimsuccessfully is to be more like a man, and less like a woman.Especially as explanations of high performance, women are also oftencredited with a biological advantage in swimming - for example, becauseof higher average levels of body fat, a presumed (but scientificallyunproven) higher tolerance for pain, or in one bizarre case, forhaving "more flexible ankles". While these remarks are usuallyintended as compliments, they also present female swimmingachievement as accidental rather than earned.Some women received negative comments from thoseoutside of swimming about their increasingly bigshoulders - for example, being described as "manly" -whereas this was celebrated in relation to men,attracting compliments. But many women also enjoyedthe solidity and power of their new muscularity.

Many of the women in thestudy talked about how greatit felt to do things that arenormally off-limits for women.This included: being strong,muscular and powerful;taking time for themselves;eating freely and in public,and getting dirty anddishevelled.

Dirty anddisshevelled


Heroic fatnessIn most endurance sports, low body fat gives a performance advantage, but in Channel swimming,body fat provides valuable insulation from the cold. Consequently, most Channel swimmers try toeither gain, or at least maintain, body fat in preparation for a swim. The Channel swimming body,then, is unusual among endurance sporting bodies, providng a direct challenge to thecontemporary 'war on obesity', which is based on the notion that lean = fit / healthy, and fat =unfit / unhealthy.

Channel training alsoprovides an opportunity forthose with long histories ofstruggling with their weightto re-evaluate their bodies.Several of these swimmerschose not to continue tryingto lose weight after theirswims, and abandonedunhealthy and obsessivehabits like daily weigh-ins.They also took greatpleasure in fending offwarnings from doctors with

reminders about theirextraordinary capacity forswimming, and theirexcellent performance onstandard measures ofhealth such as bloodpressure and resting heartrate.

"My body isamazing. Just lookwhat it can do."(female UK swimmer)

For many long-standing endurance triathletes ormarathon runners, the concept of gaining fat toimprove performance seemed very puzzling andunpleasant. For these swimmers, weight gaintook on a heroic quality - an undesirablenecessity, and a form of swimming suffering.

This willingness to suffer weight gain was usedto mark those swimmers out as utterlycommitted to their sport, even beyond theachievements of the most elite athletes:

"Michael Phelps could never swim theChannel" (male US swimmer)Fat gained on purpose for swimming is given ahigher moral status than pre-existing fat.I frequently heard swimmers make negativecomments about non-swimming fat people as"lazy" or having "let themselves go", whilecelebrating their own newly acquired fat.This difference between being fat and getting fatalso applied within the swimming community.Watching a group of young male swimmers

jokily slapping and wobbling each others' newlyacquired fat on the beach, a male UK swimmerwho described himself as having "always beenfat" commented:

"It makes you wonder what they mustthink about me".The experience of fatness in Channelswimming, then, depends on how / when thatfat is acquired, and not all fat is treated asmorally equal.


"Real" swimming....One of the perennial and fiercely-fought discussions within Channel swimming (and other similarmarathon swims) is what constitutes an authentic swim, and how the rules of the sport can beprotected as both marathon swimming, and open water swimming more generally, become morepopular. In particular, the use of wetsuits in marathon swimming has become a touchstone forthese discussions.

The rules of English Channel swimming are fairly straightfoward: from shore to shore, in a regularswimming costume, single latex / silicone cap and goggles, and without touching the boat oranyone on it. These rules are a nostalgic (but not literal) nod to the conditions of the first crossingby Matthew Webb in 1875. They have also been adopted, with some small adjustments(e.g. brief shark or lightening breaks) by the governing bodies of similarmarathon swims globally.However, the rise of triathlon and mass participation open waterswimming has led to the increased availability and popularity ofwetsuits. For some, this threatens to undermine the "purity" ofChannel swimming and there is growing demand for cleardemarcations of wetsuit and non-wetsuit categories inswim records. Others advocate terms such as"adventure swimming" for wetsuit marathon swims topreserve non-wetsuit swimming as the 'real'marathon swimming. Others argue that thesedivisions exclude and deter, rather than categorise.These boundary debates over what counts as'real' swimming highlight the fact that swimming isnot only about swimming, but also about who weare, and who we want others to think we are.

The comfort of small thingsI asked everyone I interviewed what they like to eat as a treatafter a long swim. The results were hugely varied, anddemonstrate the comfort of small things in the face of a bigtask (and its after effects):

➣ jelly babies

➣ tinned peach slices

➣ rice pudding

➣ cherry bakewell tart

➣ boiled egg rolled inpepper and salt

➣ tortilla chips

➣ McDonalds

➣ full English fry-up

➣ cup of tea

➣ ice-cream

➣ flat Coke

➣ bacon sandwich


In search of pleasureFor most people not involved with Channel swimming, it is easily imagined in terms of suffering:cold, tiredness, nausea, pollution, boredom, pain. This impression is reinforced by the fact thatmost Channel swimming stories are tales of suffering and overcoming (or being overcome) -perhaps because those are the bits that are most easily remembered, or because they make themost entertaining stories. But both my own experiences, as well as those of the swimmers Ihave met, show swimming pleasure comes not simply from completing a swim, but also from theswimming itself.

Let it flow....Many swimmers reported experiencing'flow' states while swimming - aeuphoric state without any sense oftime, and the sensation of completelyuninhibited movement. For theswimmers, it is "stretching, reaching,gliding bliss"; "a comforting euphoria";"like flying"; "like I could swim forever".

"And so when you swim in a pool, itʼslike a puddle. Like a dead puddle. Anditʼs good - you can get fitness out of it.But when you go out here, youʼrestepping into something thatʼs verymuch alive… " (female US swimmer)

Being out of the urban environment and into theopen water is another important aspect of thepleasures of swimming. These pleasures lie inthe unpredictable, mobile nature of the openwater; a sense of space and freedom; andencounters with wildlife. In La Jolla in San Diego,for example, I was treated to sightings of(harmless) leopard sharks, bat rays, and seals,and underwater, I could hear the squeaks andclicks of dolphins. Even in the less exoticallypopulated waters of the UK, fish, birds, theoccasional seal, and beautiful (but sometimesunwelcome) jellyfish make an appearance. Theopen water is a long way from the "dead puddle"of the swimming pool.

Many of the swimmers whom I met toldme that the community itself was oneof the greatest pleasures of swimming.This includes a 'virtual' globalcommunity of swimmers, many ofwhom will never meet in person, butwho communicate and shareswimming experiences through blogsand social media.

New communities


Who are you swimming for?One of the most common questons that people ask when you say you are going to swim theChannel is "who are you doing it for?" - a question that presumes that you are swimming in aid of acharity. This association between endurance sport and charity fund-raising is well establshed incontemporary society, as we can see in mass participation events like the Great North Run or theLondon Marathon. However, while many swimmers were eager to swim for a charity, othersexpressed scepticism and reluctance, resenting the pressure to do so.

"I didn't want to do it for myself. I wantedto achieve something more for someoneelse" (male UK swimmer)Many swimmers recognised the intensiveinvestment of time and money that goes into aChannel swim. "Doing it for myself", then,always risks appearing self-absorbed.Swimming for charity provides acounterbalance to this self-involvement bygiving to others.Some swimmers swam with personally relevantcharities in mind - for example, following thedeath of a loved one, or after experiencing anillness or personal crisis. For others, the act ofgiving was more significant than the specific

charity, and they either shopped around orwere solicited directly by charities who hadheard about the Channel swim.In addition to the altruistic desire to support acharity, then, we can also see that charitableswimming makes a statement about the kind ofperson that you are (and aren't).Swimmers also used the fund-raising aspect ofChannel swimming to inspire them to keepgoing - for example, by not wanting to 'letdown' sponsors, charities and the clients ofthose charities. But this also created additionalpressures for some swimmers, raising anxietyaround the swim, as well as adding fund-raising work to the already demanding processof training.In spite of these reservations, many still feltcompelled to swim for charity. These swimmersoften compromised by setting up a fund-raisingaccount but not actively soliciting donations.

"....people will think it's a bit weird if youdon't do it for charity" (male UK swimmer)

But some people remained sceptical aboutpurely altriuistic claims:

"There's this person at my swimming clubwho sends e-mails about three times ayear saying 'I'm doing this now. Thereason I'm doing it for this cause'. Andmy response is: 'Bollocks'. The reasonyou're doing it is because you want toswim the Channel." (male UK swimmer)


Becoming a Channel swimmer...In many ways, a Channel swim is a zero sum game - you either make it or you don't. But theswimmers I met don't necessarily evaluate their own swims in black and white, using far more fluidcategories of success and failure.

Swimmers memorialise successfulswims in many ways incuding:tattoos; framing and displaying swimcharts; videos; blogs; the collectionof pebbles from the landing beach;clothing embroidered with dates andcrossing times; jewellery; andpersonalised car number plates.

For some successful swimmers, the completion of thecrossing was a defining moment of their lives. As onemale UK swimmer told me:

"I think about my Channel swim every singleday".These swimmers didn't necessarily continue within theChannel swimming sport, but treasured havingcompleted the swim.Others, however, found completing the swim to be anti-climactic after all the hard work of training. Some feltdisappointed after finishing in a slower time thanexpected, while good swim conditions left some feelinglike they hadn't been fully "tested".As you might expect, unsuccessful swims were thecause of considerable frustration, especially whereexternal factors brought an end to a swim. Many whoexperienced unsuccessful swims talked about their"unfinished business" with the Channel.But many unsuccessful swims were also rememberedas successes. People proudly recalled having pushedthemselves beyond what they had ever imaginedpossible. Others talked about their year of training as anexciting adventure.

"Even though I didn't make it, I'll never regret it.It was a wonderful experience!"(female UK swimmer)

➣ always listen to Freda

➣ get your feeding right

➣ don't look up

➣ spend time on technique

➣ don't skimp on vaselineor suncream

➣ don't eat tomatoes aftera long swim - it stings

➣ never ask how muchfurther - you'll never likethe answer

➣ and finally....ENJOY IT!!

Top tips from the swimmers


© Karen ThrosbyPhotographs © Karen Drinkwater, Nick Adams,Debbie Bettencourt, Neil Morton, Andrew Vidler,Karen Throsby and Peter Anderson.

For further information, please visit thewebsite listed at the foot of the page, orcontact me at:

Karen ThrosbyDepartment of SocologyUniversity of Warwick

CoventryCV4 7AL

[email protected]://www.thelongswim.blogspot.com

Twitter: @thelongswim

Download - Becoming a Channel Swimmer

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