Tired but triumphant, channel swim family now have record hope

AN intrepid Devon family are hoping to get a place in the Guinness Book of Records after swimming the English Channel together.

Six members of the FitzHenry clan, from Sidmouth, made it from a beach near Dover, Kent, to France in relay. Their mammoth effort has raised at least £5,000 for three charities.

The FitzHenrys are hoping to make two entries in the record book — as the first English family and the first with two sets of brothers to swim the Channel.

The swimmers had hoped to set off on Thursday but were delayed by the windy weather. They were finally able to get into the water on Saturday at 4.10am and returned back by boat after reaching France at 6.30pm.

The group, is made up of brothers, Paul, David, 47, and Neal FitzHenry, 39, from Sidmouth, and Paul's sons Daniel, 22, Craig, 21, and Lee, 29.

Today they will all appear on ITV1 show This Morning to talk about the swim.

Their cash will go to Motor Neurone Disease, the Exeter Leukaemia Fund and Ray of Sunshine, a charity for terminally-ill children.

As part of their preparation, the swimmers battled the elements off the coast at Beer and in the Bristol Channel.

Paul FitzHenry, 49, said the group were left exhausted but elated after the swim.

“It took us 14 hours and 18 minutes and we were just so relieved to finish as we were just left waiting on Thursday and Friday,” he said.

“We've not done anything to celebrate yet because we are just so tired, we had to get up at midnight on Saturday to be ready.

“We've done lots of training, so we were prepared and it was just like we thought it would be.

“The worst thing was the boat coming back, we all felt a bit seasick and we had cramp. But we stuck together.”

The group had to miss oil and debris in the sea, but said the water was not as dirty as they were expecting.

“We didn't have to dodge the ferries but we got some impressive pictures of how close we got,” Paul said.

“I'm not sure we could go back to swimming in a pool now as we would find it too annoying to stop every 25 metres.”

Not all the family were allowed to get out onto the French beach because of strict rules about swimming the channel.

Lee was the lucky swimmer who did the last leg. Daniel's bosses at Future Publishing say they will match all the money the family manage to raise.

To add to the charity total, or for more details, log on to www.swimlikeafitz.co.uk