Former Richmond Player takes on Channel & Wins
Rupert Allhusen proved that he is still fit at 40 by swimming the Channel in 15 hours and 15 minutes earlier this month.
A keen swimmer since his Devon childhood, Rupert joined Richmond Rugby Club
while at Brunel University in 1999, earning over 150 1st XV caps, before touring with the Richmond Heavies to Argentina. He won an Oxford blue in 2007.
He transformed himself from prop forward to long distance swimmer and, around 2016, began to dream of swimming the Channel. At 2am on Sunday 6 September he began to make that dream a reality.
“In pitch black, I jumped off a boat and swam to the Abbots Cliff beach to scramble up the shingle and start from dry land. There was a claxon from my pilot boat, the Gallivant, and I set off in the darkness with my green light flashing,” says Rupert.
“One of the worst parts was, because I stayed close to the boat for safety in the dark, I took on quite a lot of diesel fumes which made me nauseous. The sunrise over the White Cliffs of Dover was beautiful though and then it was a matter of just slogging on. You train in coastal water where there are features of interest but the Channel is a barren space, with the odd oil tanker and cargo ship. You only see the wave in front and in the dark it was quite choppy, with waves a metre high. It’s hard work, you swim up a wave, fall down it and then climb the next one.
Rupert continued: “There are three shipping lanes and then you have the tides to contend with and an S-shaped swimming track. At the end, you run parallel to the shore, trying to reach the Cap Gris headland. Having swum for 12 hours, I missed Cap Gris and was fighting the currents for another three hours to reach land. For four or five hours, I could see France but the ability to reach it is driven entirely by the tides, which is mentally quite challenging.
“Two swimmers who started off at the same time as me were slightly behind me and couldn’t get through the tide. They had to be hauled out of the water, which must have been devastating. I was so grateful to have made it but a good sprinkling of stubbornness and belligerence helped, that and the thought of another year training to do the swim.
“It was great that when I swam up to the beach in Frace and waded out, all the French people there were standing up shouting “Allez! Allez! Allez!” as the boat captain clocked my 15 hours 15 minutes. When you look back it’s having done it that matters, time is irrelevant. I ended up swimming 34.3 miles and the shortest is 21 miles.”
Having made it and now shaved off the beard grown to stop jellyfish stings to his face, Rupert has bought his children Florence, Wilbur and Hector the Toblerones they had hoped for from duty free.
He thanked everyone who helped and donated to his two chosen charities, paying particular tribute to former rugby team mate Matt Brown, who handled the publicity and was on the pilot boat, and Richard Tamplin from Arete Performance and Richmond rugby club, who helps everyday athletes achieve something out of the ordinary.
His crossing, recognised by the Cross Channel Swimming Association, saw Rupert raise £31,750 at the last count for CMV Action, the charity aiming to educate, vaccinate, and eradicate CMV and reduce the risks of the virus in unborn babies. The other charity is Richmond Heavies Defibrillator Fund, providing defibrillators, training and maintenance to rugby clubs through the Heartbeat Trust.
A newly-installed defibrillator having helped save the life of someone at the club, says Rupert: “So far we are looking at 12 defibrillators for rugby clubs that don’t already have them, which potentially equates to a lot of lives saved. The more we raise the more we can provide for the rugby community.”
To donate or discover more about Rupert’s epic swim visit this page.
