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Kevin Murphy is 'King of the English Channel.' He holds the record for the most channel swims, with a staggering total of 34 successful crossings. Kevin was recently featured on ITV1's 'Great British Body' series, hosted by Trinny and Susannah, in which he was celebrated for his fantastic achievements and attitude to life. This summer Kevin will swim the channel once more, and this time he will be using his swim to raise vital funds for the MS Society. In this blog, Kevin will be writing about his experience on 'The Great British Body' and will be keeping us updated on preparations for his latest swimming challenge.

Thursday 16/10/2008

I've been beaten by the weather - without even getting wet.
 
I've had to postpone my Channel swim until next year. Every time my turn came round in the queue of swimmers waiting to go, there was too much wind which meant the sea was too rough. And that's a no,no  when it comes to swimming out there in the middle of the Channel. Eventually I ran out of holiday time from work.
 
I'm not the only one. There were swimmers who came from far flung corners of the world who had to go home again without getting their chance.
 
I did have thoughts of jumping in on a weekend - last Saturday would have been good - but I'm a reporter covering the financial crisis at the moment and a fifteen hour shift on Friday is not good as preparation for a Channel swim the next day.
 
So - my thirty-fifth Channel swim has to wait.
 
Instead of celebrating the fortieth anniversary of my first swim in 1968, I'll be celebrating my sixtieth birthday with a swim next year. By the law of averages the weather should be better and I'll have to make sure I'm among the first in the queue.
 
It's unfinished business for me and I'll be hoping to use next year's swim to raise money for MS.
 
Many thanks for all the encouragement and support I've received. I'll be back.

Friday 22/08/08

The weather's a curse in Channel swimming.
 
To be more exact, it's the wind that's a curse.
 
The stronger it blows, the rougher the sea and the more problematic the swim becomes.
 
It means the Channel swimmer can never be certain of doing it on a set day. We book the boat and pilot for a period of neap tides - that is when the strength of the tides are at their weakest.
 
Then we wait in a queue of other swimmers for the weather to come good. And we wait. And we wait.
 
Some take a chance. Last week twelve swimmers made a dash for it when the forecast indicated a window of good weather was opening up. It didn't work out. Only two made it.
 
I didn't start and I'm still waiting.
 
Still, it gave me a chance to do an interview for the Daily Express on the Channel swim and the effort to raise money for the Multiple Sclerosis Society. Hopefully it also gives more time for people to donate.
 
As it happens the weather may have saved me a difficult decision. Somewhere along the way I picked up a chest infection but it's going now.
 
The waiting continues. The next neap tide sees another queue of swimmers waiting with those of us from the last one tacked on the back.
 
Somehow it usually works out okay in the end. When there is a period of weather when there's no wind, the boats and pilots escort swimmer after swimmer in quick succession - back to back Channel swims or if you like a shoal of swimmers.
 
It looks like September for me. I've done it in mid-October before now so no worries yet.
 
Patience is the name of the game. And I'll keep training.

Tuesday 22/07/08 
 
It seems my swim's going to get some coverage Down Under.
 
An Australian film crew's going to be on board to film the pilot Alison Streeter. She's Queen of the English Channel with 43 crossings but has now bought a boat and switched to steering others across. She has a lot of links with Australia and is something of sporting celeb there.
 
So they'll have the Queen on the boat and me, King of the English Channel, in the water.
 
All we want now is a sponsor who take advantage of the coverage.
 
The swim's getting close now.
 
The weekend before last there was some light relief. Thanks to Shout Communications and Carnival cruise lines Jane and I had a three day cruise on a brand new ship from Dover to Amsterdam and back. We got back into Dover just in time for training on Sunday. Can't miss training!
 
Then, last weekend was my last long back-to-back swims in Dover Harbour - a rough five hours on Saturday and six hours on Sunday.
 
And another turn-up. Swimmer Steve Posnett has cancelled his attempt in early August because he's not ready. He offered the slot to me but I'm already going on that neap tide. So how about my wife Jane?
 
For the first time her answer changed from:"I'll never do a Channel swim" to "Maybe". Jane ended up doing six hours up-and-down Dover Harbour with the rest of the Channel hopefuls on Sunday but then decided:"Not yet".
 
So we won't be going across side by side. That's for the future.
 
It's all been happening in the Channel. My Serpentine clubmate Alice Constance is among the swimmers who've got across. She's already saying what's next.
 
Another friend Trevor Colman recruited his daughter and two sons to make it as a four man-family relay with wife/mum Sue looking after them on the boat. Their time of just over 12 hours sets a marker for the Murphy family if we ever get our act together.
 
Another swimmer, Dee Richards from Jersey stuck at it for 22 to get across as a solo - an inspiration if I start feeling tired out there.
 
I'm off to France for a week to do some final training - not too much, only two or three hours a day. When I'm next back in Dover on August 2 the moment of truth will almost be upon me.

Monday 30/6/08
 
Surely it should be the other way around. Daughter Joanne came down to Dover this past weekend and sat on the beach helping look after mum and dad swimming up and down the harbour. 
 
Other mums and dads were on the beach watching over their offspring in the water!
 
Before anybody complains about leaving young children unsupervised on the side, Joanne is 26.
 
I did six hours on Saturday but coach, "Channel General" Freda Streeter, took pity on me on Sunday - only three hours. It was just as well. On Saturday I swam the first two hours stroke for stroke with a friend Gary Fagg who's much faster than I am but tends to fade more quickly. It ended up as a two hour sprint, with rough seas at one end of the harbour, and I suffered for it later.
 
Wife, Jane, did three hours both days. She spent thirty years supporting from the side before taking the plunge - some friends and family refer to it as going to the dark side - then swam the length of Lake Windermere in 2006 and the length of Lake Zurich in 2007.
 
Dover Harbour was positively crowded again this past weekend with more than 50 solo swimmers in training as well as lots who are attempting relays. On top of that foreign swimmers are beginning to arrive. We haven't worked out who they are yet.
 
And a few braved the throng in wet suits - wimp suits we prefer to call them.
 
Now back to the weekday routine of two miles a day in the pool.

Monday 23/6/08
 
After the training the past weekend I know I can swim the Channel this year. It was six hours up and down Dover Harbour on Saturday and five hours in on Sunday when there were strong winds which made it very rough at one end.
 
It's odd but somehow by Sunday night I seemed to have lost a nagging pain in my left shoulder and upper arm which has been worrying me. Somehow it seems to be forgotten after a total of eleven hours in the harbour!
 
But we really do need to watch out. Laura Lopez-Bonilla and I collided head-on, literally. I think I nearly knocked her out. Sorry Laura.
 
Another odd thing, every year I seem to get problems with my teeth just as I step up the training. I think it's because the gums tend to recede in the cold salt water. This year the pulp at the base of a tooth has been exposed causing severe pain and infection. I've got to have it out or have root treatment. I'd be interested to know if any other swimmers have the same problems.
 
The net result is I swam last weekend dosed up with anti-biotics and pain-killers for a toothache! Cold seas and aching arms have nothing on toothache.
 
Now I hear news that'll make life interesting. On the grapevine I'm being told Mike Read is booked for another swim this year. He's on 33 crossings to my 34 so he's trying to catch me up.
 
There's a bit of needle because he swims with Channel Swimming Association Ltd. I'm swimming with the Channel Swimming and Piloting Federation. They're the two rival bodies which oversee Channel swimming.
 
He claims the King of the Channel title because it's been trademarked by CSA Ltd. That seems a bit silly really because CS&PF simply gives me the title King of the English Channel - and I hold the male record.
 
I think Mike reckons he's a rival but he's never been able to do a two-way Channel swim. I've done three of them. Miaow - it adds the the fun.

Wednesday 18/6/08
 
Training for the Channel swim in August is stepping up a gear. Last week I was in the pool for two miles every day before doing a seven hour stint in Dover Harbour on Saturday.
 
I must have covered about thirteen miles.That's my longest this year and no problems so I was pleased. There are so many people training in the harbour I had two or three collisions. We need lane ropes.
 
After around six hours I came across club mate Alice Constance training for her first Channel swim. She's so focused she didn't stop for a chat - just kept pounding out the lengths of the harbour. I'm sure she'll succeed in the Channel.
 
A long distance swimming friend from Cork, Ned Dennison, was in Dover for the British Long Distance Swimming Association's Champion of Champions event at the other end of the harbour. With a race at one end and people doing seven hour training swims at the other, he described it as an open water swimming factory.

Sunday 8/6/08

Being named the inspiration for a living sculpture of the Great British Body is bizarre.

I'm a 59 year old grandfather and definitely not six foot with a six-pack. As I said on the Trinny and Susannah TV show maybe I'm the imperfect Great British Body. Hopefully I can inspire others because I believe a lot of people suffer unnecessary low self esteem about their bodies.

That said, I needed a lot of reassurance after seeing myself get my kit off on national tv. Being naked on telly is not good for the nerves. Was it the right thing to do? I don't know.

I've had a lot of messages of support which is good but some close family are unhappy about the programme.

The good thing that came out of it is that a conversation with PR man David Barzilay about the tv show led to a link with the Multiple Sclerosis Society and I will be raising money for this great cause with my next Channel swim.

Last weekend May 31/June 1, I did a six hour swim in Dover Harbour and four hours on the Sunday - perishing cold, especially on the Sunday, with a sea temperature of around 12.5C. Channel swim trainer, Freda Streeter, is a lady in her 60s, known as the Channel General. She rather took us back when she told a gathered group of Channel-swimmers-in-training what to do. She strikes fear in the most burly swimmers so we did it.

Monday was a rest day and over the course of the week I did six miles. If I hadn't been so wound up with The Great British Body on the telly, I might have done more.

Yesterday (Saturday) was a rest day.

Today (Sunday) it was two hours in a rather busy Hampstead swimming pond followed later by a faster two miles in a pool.