'Oldest' group completes English Channel swim

The group of four, who have a combined age of 226, completed the challenge in just over 15 hours

A group of charity swimmers are set to become Guinness World Record holders for being the oldest mixed relay team to swim the English Channel.

The Robin Hood Swimmers, from Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, started their attempt on Monday at 07:33 BST.

The group of four, who have a combined age of 226, completed the challenge in just over 15 hours - beating their 16-hour target.

Their efforts have seen them raise more than £7,500 for Dementia UK.

After leaving Samphire Hoe between Folkestone and Dover on Monday morning, they reached their destination in France's Cap Gris-Nez to finish the feat at 22:35 BST. It took them 15 hours and two minutes in total.

Team captain, Pete Moyes, who is chief executive of the Life Skills Education charity in Mansfield, said: "It feels quite emotional having completed the challenge. It's been more than three years in the making; two years of training - we can't quite believe we've done it!

"Endurance swimming is typically a sport for younger people but here we are demonstrating that people of our age can do something like this.

"The early part of the swimming was comfortable, but battling with the tide, current and wind in the second half was a real challenge. That brought it home to us why so few people do this.

"It was a real challenge - the pinnacle of any physical challenge I've ever endured."

The group first came up with the idea to swim the Channel three years ago

The team is made up of team captain Pete Moyes, aged 61, and Phil Field, 57, of Newark, Theresa Tomlinson, 50, of Retford and Anne-Marie Lawrence, 57, from Stanton by Bridge.

Each team member swam for an hour at a time before another swimmer took their place. They were accompanied by a small fishing boat.

The challenge was originally expected to take place earlier in July, but poor conditions at sea meant they were forced to delay it.

Guinness World Records is expected to officially confirm the group as record breakers in about a week, according to Mr Moyes.

A spokeswoman for the organisation said: "What an incredible achievement. We look forward to receiving evidence for our Records Management Team to review."

Team captain, Pete Moyes, says the wind helped him swim 7km in an hour at one point

Mr Moyes added: "Our age and experience ended up playing to our advantage. We prepared well in advance and thought about what the difficulties each of us could face.

"Phil doesn't deal with the cold water very well, so he worked hard getting his body used to it. I'm not very good on a boat and get seasick, so I did my best to prepare for that.

"We're all delighted. It's been a dream which we've turned into a reality."