A Swim Worth Writing About

On 16 August 2017, Alec Richardson reached Clevedon after swimming across the Bristol Channel from Penarth. His time was 5 hours 58 minutes 3 seconds. In the official record, the achievement occupies a short entry. In Alec’s hands, it became a book: Ask Me Why I’m Stood Here: A Bristol Channel Swim Tale. [1, 2, 4]

That title gives the crossing a voice beyond the stopwatch. Published in 2018, the book took readers into the preparation and experience behind a swim that had carried Alec from the Welsh shore to the waters of his own swimming community. [3, 4]

Before the Crossing

Clevedon swimmer Billie Oliver knew Alec and had heard him speak about his swim. Reviewing the book in December 2018, she described the long training and experiments with feeding that preceded the attempt. The help and encouragement of swimming friends ran through her account of the book. Alec’s crossing was an individual swim supported by a community. [3]

One detail captured that connection particularly well. According to Oliver’s review, followers sent messages through the online updates, and the escort crew wrote them on a whiteboard for Alec to read during feeds. Even out in the Channel, encouragement from shore could reach him. [3]

Penarth to Clevedon

The BLDSA’s 2017 Honorary Recorder’s Report places Alec’s crossing on 16 August and records the exact time of 5:58:03. It lists the route at a nominal 12.7 miles; the association’s recognition database expresses it as 20.5 kilometres. These are course descriptions rather than a measured account of every turn made under the influence of the tide. [1, 2]

His result was formally recognised. The annual report explains that the listed swims had been approved by the BLDSA Executive Committee and entered into its records. For Alec, the passage to Clevedon had become a ratified Bristol Channel crossing. [1]

Taking the Story Ashore

The swim continued to reach people after Alec left the water. His book appeared the following year, and by late 2018 he was also sharing the experience through a local talk. Oliver’s review preserves something of that reception among the Clevedon swimmers who knew him. [3, 4]

His involvement in swimming continued beyond writing. A Portishead Open Air Pool squad listing for autumn 2026 describes Alec as a Level 2 Open Water Swim Coach with a background in competitive swimming as a youngster. It offers a later glimpse of the same connection to swimming, now through coaching as well as his own experience. [6]

Legacy

Alec’s crossing left both a recognised result and a story that others could follow. The BCSA later identified his book as an inspiration for Jo Jones’s 2020 swim. A personal account of reaching Clevedon had become part of the encouragement for another swimmer to set out. [1, 5]

The photograph below places Alec back beside that familiar water, this time at the finish of Ros Edmonds’s Penarth–Clevedon swim. Tom Chapman, observing Ros’s crossing, took it from the boat. He identifies Alec as the man in long trunks standing beside Ros. [7]

From the boat, Tom called out, “Why are you stood there?” — a playful reference to Alec’s book title. Tom does not think Alec heard him. The moment adds a small personal footnote to the picture: a swimmer who had written about his own arrival at Clevedon, now standing at the finish of someone else’s crossing. [7]

From his own crossing to the book, talks and continued involvement in swimming, Alec’s story belongs to the community around the Channel as well as to its record books. [1, 3–7]