The English Channel crossing, one of the most famous global swimming challenges, (refer) to as the peak of endurance swimming.
A relay team of winter swimming (enthusiasm) from Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, swam the English Channel in less than 12 hours on Friday. They (choose) to swim the shortest route across the channel, the
33.8 kilometers from Dover in the UK to Cap Gris Nez, a cape near Calais in France.
In fact, the team took exactly 11 hours and 54 minutes to make the crossing, (swim) more than 50 km to avoid obstacles and strong currents. During the team's crossing, each team member swam at least an hour before alternating until they reached France.
Xie Derong, a member of the team, said that although the relay went (smooth) for the most part, the final 6 km proved to be an enormous test of (they) endurance. "We encountered counter currents that caused us (slow) down."
idea of crossing the English Channel first came to them in
2019. Training started several weeks before Friday's swim in the Sanqi Reservoir in Wencheng county, the water temperature was similar to the English Channel.