No Goggles, No GPS
Courtesy of Grimsby Telegraph and British Pathé, English Channel. The Grimsby Telegraph published film footage of the 1951 Daily Mail race across the English Channel.
The race was won by Mareeh Hassan Hamad of Egypt in 12 hours 12 minutes over France’s Roger Le Morvan who finished in 12 hours 13 minutes. Footage of the race shows some very different conditions of channel swimming in the 1950’s compared to contemporary times across the Channel:
* Hamad did not wear goggles, although some swimmers include the first woman Brenda Fisher (12 hours 42 minutes) did
* No GPS as it did not exist at that time
* Rowboats as escort boat
* Departures from France’s Cap Gris-Nez
Watch the fascinating footage from British Pathé here.
Fisher also won the women’s race in 1954 – see video below. For a detailed background of her achievements and her open water swimming career, read David Cartwright’s comprehensive account here.
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Southern California native, born 1962, is the creator of the WOWSA Awards, Oceans Seven, Openwaterpedia, Citrus Corps, World Open Water Swimming Association, Daily News of Open Water Swimming, Global Open Water Swimming Conference. He is Chief Executive Officer of KAATSU Global and KAATSU Research Institute. Inductee in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Swimmer, Class of 2001) and Ice Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Contributor - Media, Class of 2019), recipient of the International Swimming Hall of Fame's Poseidon Award (2016), International Swimming Hall of Fame's Irving Davids-Captain Roger Wheeler Memorial Award (2010), USA Swimming's Glen S. Hummer Award (2007, 2010) and Harvard University's John B. Imrie Award (1984). Served on the FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee and as Technical Delegate with the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games, and 9-time USA Swimming coaching staff. Note: WOWSA only recommends products or services used or recommended by the community. WOWSA does not receive compensation for links or products mentioned on this site or in blog posts. If it does, it will be indicated clearly on that specific post. See WOWSA's privacy policy for more information.
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