In the October issue of Outdoor Swimmer, we meet not one but two English Channel heroes. While Sarah Thomas graces our cover and is the subject of our main feature this month, we’ve also been digging into some English Channel swimming history. Mercedes Gleitze swam the Channel in October 1927, becoming the first British woman to do so, and our contributing editor Ella Foote met her daughter, Doloranda Pember, to find out more about this amazing swimmer.
Doloranda tells Ella that it was only after her mother's death in 1981 that Doloranda and her siblings discovered what a legend she was. Suitcases full of newspaper cuttings, letters, journals, photographs, telegrams and documents uncovered a successful and colourful swimming career. After years of patient work and research, Doloranda (now 85) has published her mother's biography, In the Wake of Mercedes Gleitze: Open water pioneer.
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The Outdoor Swimmer team
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