Kent foster mum Jackie Cobell has set a new world record by
swimming the Channel in the longest time ever!

Jackie, 56, from Five Oak Green near Tonbridge, was
making her Channel swim attempt to raise money for Huntington’s
Disease Association.

She set off on Saturday morning, July 24, and supporters
were glued to the internet to watch her progress.

While very few swimmers actually manage to go in anything
like a straight line because of the tides and currents, Jackie
started off going down the Channel, and then weaved up and down
several times, across the busy shipping lanes, eventually landing
just to the north of Calais.

Her time was 28 hours 44 minutes. The previous record, set in
1923, was by American Henry Sullivan in 26 hours 50 minutes.

Five years ago Jackie weighed 20 stone and was suffering from
high blood pressure. She decided to lose eight stone, which she has
done, and swim the
Channel, which she has also now achieved.

Among the first to congratulate Jackie was Freda Streeter, known
as The General, (pictured with her above) who spends her
weekends on Dover beach helping swimmers with their training for
Channel swim attempts.

There were congratulations, too, for Australian marathon swimmer
Chloe McCardel, 25, (right)who completed a two-way swim
in 21 hours 48 minutes - seven hours faster than it took Jackie to
swim one way!

More details of Chloe's achievements can be found on her website www.chloemccardel.com and there's a full story of both swims, and details of other swims, in this week's Dover Mercury.