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US swimmer criss-crosses English Channel in 54-hour feat

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Joe Jackson, Agence France-Presse

<div><script src="https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&amp;version=v2.5" async="" type="text/javascript"></script></div><div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10157421609111585&amp;set=pcb.10157421612946585&amp;type=3&amp;theater" data-width="auto"> </div><p>An American breast cancer survivor on Tuesday became the first person to swim across the English Channel four times non-stop in a 54-hour feat of endurance.</p><p>Sarah Thomas, 37, an open water marathon swimmer from the US state of Colorado, could be seen in a video posted on Facebook arriving at Dover on the southern English coast with a group of supporters cheering her on.</p><p>&quot;I feel a little sick,&quot; she is heard saying following the herculean effort, which reportedly saw her cover close to 130 miles (209 kilometers) due to strong tides.</p><p>Only four swimmers have previously completed the approximately 21-mile Channel crossing between Britain and France three times without stopping.</p><p>&quot;I just can&#x27;t believe we did it,&quot; Thomas told the BBC. </p><p>&quot;I&#x27;m really just pretty numb. There was a lot of people on the beach to meet me and wish me well and it was really nice of them, but I feel just mostly stunned.&quot;</p><p>Thomas said the hardest part was dealing with the salt water, which left her throat and mouth sore, while she also got stung in the face by a jellyfish.</p><p>The athlete relied on a protein recovery drink mixed with electrolytes and caffeine -- which was tied to a rope and thrown to her every 30 minutes -- to complete the feat, according to her mother.</p><p>Endurance swimmer Lewis Pugh wrote on Twitter that her achievement was &quot;extraordinary, amazing, super-human&quot;.</p><p>&quot;Just when we think we&#x27;ve reached the limit of human endurance, someone shatters the records,&quot; he wrote.</p><div><strong>&#x27;Pain and fear&#x27; </strong></div><p>In a post on Saturday before setting off, Thomas wrote: &quot;This swim is dedicated to all the survivors out there.</p><p>&quot;This is for those of us who have prayed for our lives, who have wondered with despair about what comes next, and have battled through pain and fear to overcome,&quot; she wrote.</p><p>The marathon swimmer received the cancer diagnosis four months after an unprecedented August 2017 non-stop solo swim of 104.6 miles in Lake Champlain on the US-Canada border.</p><p>She underwent treatment for the aggressive form of breast cancer -- which had already begun spreading to the lymph nodes under one of her arms -- in the summer of 2018, according to a fundraising website for a documentary about her achievements.</p><p>&quot;I was at the peak of my athletic accomplishments... and then I got diagnosed with cancer,&quot; Thomas said in a video posted on the Kickstarter website.</p><p>&quot;It&#x27;s part of who I am now, part of my story. I just hope it never comes back but if it does, to know that I did everything I wanted to do in life.&quot;</p><p>In the video Thomas, who finished her first open-water event in 2007 and had previously made two Channel swims in 2012 and 2016, said swimming across the Dover Strait had been a lifelong dream and &quot;just as hard as climbing Mount Everest&quot;.</p><p>&quot;When you&#x27;re a kid you just dream of swimming the English Channel.&quot;</p><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div>

<p>An American breast cancer survivor on Tuesday became the first person to swim across the English Channel four times non-stop in a 54-hour feat of endurance.</p>

An American breast cancer survivor on Tuesday became the first person to swim across the English Channel four times non-stop in a 54-hour feat of endurance.

US swimmer criss-crosses English Channel in 54-hour feat

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US swimmer criss-crosses English Channel in 54-hour feat

Joe Jackson,

Agence France-Presse

Published Sep 17, 2019 08:19 PM PHT

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Sarah Thomas

English Channel

swimming

swimmer

overseas

cancer survivor

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