The Original Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming consists of three channel crossings: the English Channel, North Channel and Bristol Channel. Monster Swims provides pilot boats and swim escort services for the Bristol Channel leg, helping swimmers plan and undertake their crossing between North Devon and South Wales.
The three swims to claim the crown
- English Channel: between England and France.
- North Channel: between Northern Ireland and Scotland.
- Bristol Channel: a “qualifying” crossing between England and Wales.
The “minimum” Bristol Channel distance
Generally, swims across the English and North Channels are aiming for the shortest routes of about 20-21 miles. If the wind and tides push you sideways, your swim will always be longer. The Bristol Channel is slightly different in that it is a huge funnel shape, open to the Atlantic Ocean in the West and narrowing down into two rivers in the East. As such, its technically possible to swim a much shorter route across. Back in the early 2020’s, the decision was taken to add some rules to the Bristol Channel leg to make the three swims more comparable.
The first triple crowns
In 1971, Kevin Murphy Swam from Glenthorne House, to Porthcawl to become the first person to claim all three channels. His swim covered a straight-line distance of 16 miles and landed in the centre of Porthcawl. In 1975, Ted Keenan followed Kevin across on the same route. A precedent was set. This swim is discussed more fully in our Glenthorne – Porthcawl page, but it is a very odd one in channel swimming circles because you are NOT necessarily trying to swim the minimum distance. On a bigger tide, you can be within a few hundred metres of the Welsh coast for the last 8 miles of the swim but must swim up the coast to land in Porthcawl! It is worth noting Kevin swam to BLDSA rules which stated you must land within 800m of your end point – a really difficult thing to do in the second strongest tide in the world!
The Bristol Channel OTC “golden rule”
Given you could swim a much shorter distance, some simple rules were added to Bristol Channel Swims; key point to remember is it MUST be a minimum distance of 16 miles straight-line between the start and finish – this reflects the distance Kevin Murphy swam for OTC #1.
Shorter routes – Penarth Clevedon, Penarth Weston, Minehead Lavernock etc – a one way swim is not long enough to qualify. The MSF hold a list of UK 3 channel challenge completions which include any Bristol Channel distance, but for the Original Triple Crown, the only swim on these shorter routes to qualify has been Steve Price’s two-way Penarth Clevedon swim.
Glenthorne to Porthcawl The classic Original Triple Crown route, connecting the North Devon coast with South Wales. Basic requirement is to start in Devon, underneath Genthorne house and to finish past the River Ogmore in Bridgend county. This sometimes means on a bigger tide you have to swim up the coast! This swim can be swum the other way round (first done by Tom in 2021) and almost certainly qualifies this way round.
Swansea to Ilfracombe offers a longer Bristol Channel crossing that ALWAYS qualifies. Here the channel is almost parallel with a minimum distance of 23 miles so where-ever you land, you are guaranteed to have exceeded the minimum distance! Sian Clement was the first person to claim the OTC on the longer BC route and actually held the aggregate fastest time record for quite a while DESPITE having swum 9 miles further than any other female triple crowners!
Planning your Original Triple Crown swim
Whether the Bristol Channel is your first crossing or the final leg of your Original Triple Crown, contact Monster Swims to discuss routes, preparation and availability.
Links
English channel can be swum through either the CSPF or CSA
North Channel can be swum through the ILDSA and Infinity Channel Swimming