(September 25, 2024) Early this September, British-Indian teen Prisha Tapre found herself fulfilling a dream of hers – swimming across the English Channel. She was 12 when she harboured the dream. Now four years later, she covered a treacherous 21 mile stretch from Dover in the UK to Cap Gris Nez in France, in a span of 11 hours and 48 minutes to become the youngest British Indian to swim across the English Channel. “My dream has come true and it’s an experience you can only hear about in the movies and, and actually experiencing it, it just feels amazing,” Prisha said in an interview.
But her desire to swim across the English Channel wasn’t just to make or break a record but the teen saw herself doing one of the most iconic swims to raise funds for a charity. Through her challenge, she raised £3,700 for Akshaya Patra UK, a charity dedicated to ending hunger and child food poverty in India and the UK.
Prisha Tapre
A goal bigger than her
Her family migrated to the UK from Maharashtra, and it was at an early age that Hertfordshire girl fell in love with swimming. However, her dream of swimming across the English Channel took root in 2020 when she was 12 years old as wanted to prove to herself that she could do something big. “Before that, I was a normal club swimmer who trained for fun and socialising but I decided to do something bigger for myself,” Prisha said. After discussing with her parents, she decided on the English Channel and her coaches directed her towards Jeremy Irvine – her current coach, and “that’s when it started.”
The English Channel, a stretch of water separating southern England from northern France, is a popular yet challenging route for long-distance swimmers. The narrowest point between Dover and Calais is approximately 21 miles (34 km), but due to strong currents, swimmers often cover much greater distances. The cold water, unpredictable weather, and shipping traffic add to the difficulty of the crossing. Swimmers attempting to cross typically follow strict guidelines, including starting from Dover and landing on the French coast.Often called the Mount Everest of Open Water Swimming, swimming across the English Channel is considered challenging. Uptil now, fewer than 2000 have successfully completed the 20.5-mile swim.
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Prisha began her training by swimming one kilometre and later moved to three kilometres. “It used to take me around 25 minutes per lap for 1k around the lake and now I take 15 minutes a lap. So, in four years, I’ve managed to cut down 10 minutes for 1k which is amazing and then it just shows how far you can go,” the teen said.
Initially, she was aiming for 12 hours swim across the English Channel but during the swim, she lost all sense of time. “I came out thinking that I got 15 hours,” said Prisha, who swims with Watford Swimming Club. When her coach Jeremy on the boat inquired her about the time she took, she found out that she took 11 hours and 48 minutes, making her quite proud of her performance.
The English Channel challenges
Swimming across the English Channel isn’t an easy feat since it requires constant swimming with only minuscule breaks for feed. Her coach calls English Channel, one of the most iconic swims as it is also one of the busiest shipping channels. “The traffic that you get is insane, so hats off to the pilots that navigate us across,” he said, adding that Prisha was swimming alongside a fishing boat that was watching the traffic and communicating with everyone the entire time.
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In preparing for the swim, she had to get comfortable with a certain degree of discomfort while during the channel swim. She began acclimatisation by starting longer and colder swims. She would sit in a cold bath for 20-minute sessions, just to the point where the body needs to generate its own heat. “It prepares the body and the mind,” said Jeremy, who calls hypothermia the biggest challenge in such swims.
Alongside physical strength, it requires mental resilience to swim for 11 hours and 48 minutes. But having been brought up in a spiritual family, Prisha always found her mother, an athlete herself, listening to meditations. It was at age 11 that she too started meditating, and found herself in a better mental space. “My mom gave me this Hare Krishna chant that I often chant during swimming when my head is ever in a bad space. I have realised that your mind is in control of your body.” However, the chant did not work during the long swim, instead, she started counting to eight over and over again, which was more like being in a meditative state for her.
But the first two hours of the swim were challenging as it was choppy and dark. “But once the sun came up, I knew I had passed the toughest bit. The water became still, and the conditions were better than I could have asked for her,” she said in another interview.
Striking a balance
Prisha’s accomplishment is all the more impressive considering how she managed to juggle her demanding training regimen alongside her preparation for GCSE exams. “I was preparing for my exams while striking a balance with my channel swim training. It was really hard as I had to give time to both as I couldn’t fall behind on either,” said the swimmer who would train for six hours.
Her parents have been the wind beneath her wings as they always encouraged and supported her in her passion. “They inspired me on days that I thought I couldn’t do it, and constantly reminded me why I started doing it in the first place.”
Representing India and UK
Being a British Indian, Prisha Tapre feels proud to represent India in the UK. “I feel in certain sports there are many Indians who represent their country. So doing a sport where there aren’t many Indians, makes me feel really proud that I am able to represent not just myself but an entire country. It gives me hope that one day, other people could do the same,” she said, adding, “I want to inspire other people to get into the sport because sometimes when you come into a different country, you might not feel as comfortable doing anything as you would in India. At first, I wasn’t as comfortable as I would be in India but then the community that Jeremy introduced me into was so welcoming.”
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Swimming for charity
Having raised £3,700 for Akshay Patra, a charity in the UK, Prisha Tapre calls the cause closer to her heart. “In the UK, it provides after-school and in-school meals for children who sometimes won’t be able to get meals after school, and in India, it helps children get an education along with mid-day meals which encourages more children to go to school.” The cause is close to her heart as she has experienced life in both countries. “I can fast for a day knowing that I will have a meal at the end of the day, But I can’t imagine being in a situation where I might not have a meal the next day. Raising money for this charity means a lot to me,” she added.
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