Teen Channel swimmer had more than sea to battle

"There are points on long swims where you get to the stage of wanting to stop, everyone does," said Lowenna North.

The Cornish teenager gave this blunt answer when asked about how demanding the challenge was to swim across the English Channel.

The 17-year-old from Tregadillett, near Launceston, managed to complete the 20.5-mile (33 km) swim from Dover to Calais in 14 hours and 56 minutes on 14 September.

Lowenna - nicknamed the Ginger Swimmer due to her hair colour and passion for long-distance swimming - told the BBC there were points were she had to grit her teeth and power through, but it ended up being one of the "best days" of her life.

Lowenna has tackled other long-distance swims before and was the youngest person to complete the 14-mile (22.5km) Eddystone Lighthouse to Plymouth Hoe course when she was 15.

The Plymouth Open Water Swimmers and Bude Open Waters Swimmers member trained for up to six hours at a time for the Channel swim - something she has wanted to do since she was 12.

While out in the water, Lowenna was joined by the many boats which cross the Channel every day, but she said this was not the biggest difficulty she faced.

She explained: "The bigger challenges were trying to read the tides and what my support crew wanted me to do from the boat - either going with the tide or going against the tide sort of thing."

She added trying to eat and drink to keep energy levels up while in the water was another challenge, with items like chocolate and hot cups of squash on the menu.

"When you're in the water, you kind of just have to do the best you can with the food and drink by treading water and knock it all back," she said.

"Half of my feeds I couldn't really eat because by the time I opened them a wave came over them and they were covered in sea water, but you've just got to grit your teeth and eat it sometimes."

Lowenna admitted the challenge had ups and downs mentally for her and there were times she wanted to stop, but will power prevailed.

"Whenever I'd get to that point in my head, I would think 'I'm not getting out until I get to France' because if I get on that support boat I'll be so angry with myself and let everyone down," she added.

Once she made it to Calais, Lowenna said it was a "massive relief".

She said: "The challenge was the most amazing experience ever and it was definitely one of the best days of my life."

While the swim left her feeling sore and unable to move her right arm as much as usual, Lowenna has her sights set on more challenges in the future including the Manhattan Islands Swim in New York and crossing the Bristol Channel.

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