Swimming legend protege prepares for channel swim

Malcolm Pearce has been training for a year for his solo Channel swim

A Cleethorpes man who was inspired by Grimsby swimming legend Brenda Fisher is getting ready to swim solo across the English Channel.

Malcolm Pearce, 63, said he was hoping to start his endurance swim in the early hours of Thursday 31 July.

He expected it would take him about 14 hours to swim the 21 mile (34km) crossing.

Brenda Fisher, who held the women's world record for swimming the Channel, was Mr Pearce's coach when he was younger.

Weather permitting, Mr Pearce will start his swim from Dover to France at 03:00 BST.

He will have a support crew alongside him in a boat, but he is not allowed to touch the boat or any of his team and will have food and drink thrown to him on a rope.

The team from the Grimsby and Cleethorpes Water Rats, where Mr Pearce is a member, will take it in turns to throw a bottle to him. The bottle will be full of water mixed with an energy powder which he will have about 10 seconds to drink.

He told BBC Radio Humberside: "I can't do any more to be ready. If I'm not ready now, I'm never going to be. In the last year I've done about 600 miles (1,000 km) training."

Brenda Fisher was awarded the Freedom of the Borough of Grimsby in 2016

Mr Pearce learnt to swim at Immingham pool and then went to the Grimsby Santa Marina club where he was coached by Brenda Fisher.

Ms Fisher took 12 hours 42 minutes to swim across the Channel in 1951, beating the previous record by 38 minutes.

After retiring from distance swimming, she became a swimming teacher in Grimsby. She died in 2022 aged 95.

Mr Pearce said: "I was there for about two years and I remember her talking about her cross Channel swim and I asked her questions about it. She did nearly all her training in the docks here like I do."

He said he was raising money for Humberston Hydrotherapy Pool through the swim.

"I can't do any more training and anything else now is out of my control, whether that's jellyfish or bad weather," he added.

The swim is expected to take up to 14 hours and, although the channel is 21 miles wide, it is likely he will swim for about 28 miles (45km) due to veering off course.

Updates on his Mr Pearce's swim will be posted on the Grimsby and Cleethorpes Water Rats Facebook page.

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