Ellery McGowan - Channel swimmer

About Ellery:
Ellery made her debut in Open Water swimming by taking the 2km event at the 2005 World Masters Games in Edmonton Canada. Less than a couple of weeks later she was dragooned into the Guildford Lido Legends' Channel relay and hogged the limelight with the swim in to the rocks at Cap Gris Nez.

After a Lake Zurich relay in 2009 she went on to swim the lake as an epic solo in 2010, becoming the eldest Lady to conquer the course in a time of 11hr 35 minutes. The cold of the Channel has never been a problem. Ellery took two age-group titles at the World Cold Water Championships in 2010 at Lake Bled, Slovenia, and succesfully defended both in 2012 at Jurmala, Latvia.

2011 saw Ellery swim a couple of relays in the space of three weeks before she set up the "Swinging Sixties" relay in 2012. With an average age of 66 years this 5-person team, surely the eldest to cross the Channel, completed in 13 hours 59 minutes.