The
POSEIDON
CLUB
History of the Club
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The Cross Channel Relay competition was founded by Nick Thomas (Christ Church 1957) and Martin Davies (Balliol 1995) in 1998 to help raise awareness for the new pool appeal at Iffley Road. Martin Davies designed the format of the race (team of six, three men, three ladies) swimming in one-hour stints until the race is completed, from England to France. Cambridge accepted the challenge and the biennual event was launched in Dover in July 1998.
The Inaugural Varsity Cross-Channel Relay Race between the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge was held in 1998. The first race saw both teams reach France within 2 minutes of each other and, in accordance with the rules of the competition, was judged to be a draw. Cambridge won for the first time in 2004, with their time of 8 hours 49 minutes making them the fastest relay crossing that year. Since then, Oxford and Cambridge teams are regularly the fastest relay teams across the English Channel, beating numerous International contenders.
Past races have had a strong international flavour with former English, Australian, American, Malaysian, Singaporean and Hong Kong internationals competing. The event has now acquired Blues’ status in both Universities.
About the Race
The English Channel is considered the Mount Everest of Open water swimming. The shortest route across the Channel is 21 miles but it is safe to say that the Channel is much more taxing than this distance might suggest. When swimming the Channel, swimmers face the following issues:
- the up to three metre waves from the 400 ferries crossing the channel daily
- the forever changing sea currents
- stinging jellyfish, seaweed and strong winds reaching up to 30 knots.
But the main obstacle is the cold water, with a temperature ranging between 13 and 17 degrees Celsius. Under cross-channel swimming rules, no wetsuits are allowed to protect against the cold, only regular swim suits may be worn.
The Race Rules
- The swim will be from England to France (the harder direction), beginning on Shakespeare Beach in Dover and finishing on the French shore, near the French port of Calais.
- The competition is held under the joint auspices of the Channel Swimming Association (CSA) and the Channel Swimming and Piloting Federation (CSPF) in accordance with their rules pertaining to relay crossings.
- These stipulate that a relay team must consist of six swimmers who swim for 1 hour each in rotation until the French coast is reached.
- The teams comprise 3 men and 3 women who swim alternately.
- Taking into account problems with accurate timing and with the definition of the finish, the Presidents of Oxford and Cambridge Swimming Clubs have decreed that any difference in times under two minutes is to be declared a dead heat.
