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Whippet conquers the English Channel

Ryan Clark of Home and Away and Bondi Rescue has completed his English Channel swim, raising $70,000 for Ocean Heroes.

Ryan ‘Whippet’ Clark has conquered the English Channel after months of training to tackle the endurance event in a time of 9 hours 40 minutes.

After following Mr Clark’s journey last summer, we were excited to hear not only that he was successful, but that more than $70,000 were raised for his chosen charity, Ocean Heroes (you can still donate here).

Read: Whippet steps out from behind the camera to conquer the English Channel for charity
Read: Whippet set to take on 24hr Swim for Ocean Heroes

“Overall the swim was awesome,” said Mr Clark.

“It was hard and challenging but I expected that so it was great to challenge myself and push myself to my limits.

We asked Mr Clark what his favourite part of the swim was and he replied “finishing it” with a laugh.

“Swimming up the beach in France was something I’ve visualized myself doing for a long time,” said Mr Clark.

“I had trained a lot for it so finishing it and accomplishing such a feat felt really good.

“It was also really cool to have such nice conditions at the start of the swim and to be able to swim through the shipping lanes.”

The swim didn’t come with its challenging parts with Mr Clark hitting a wall at one stage.

“I was eight hours in and I really started to struggle,” said Mr Clark.

“Before that, I had never swum over six hours, so when you’re in the unknown it’s hard to keep calm and stay focused when you don’t know how much longer you have to go.

“At that point, I had to slow myself down and go back to my process of just concentrating on the next 30 minutes and getting to my next feed and just go from there.

“But, I made it through, which I am beyond happy about.”

Mr Clark couldn’t have made it to the English Channel without the support of his family, friends and the community that backed him.

“I want to say a big thank you to Body Science and My Muscle Chef for supporting me,” said Mr Clark.

“They really helped make the dream of swimming the English Channel a reality.

“To everyone who donated to Ocean Heroes, I really appreciate it, you are helping make a huge difference in those kids’ lives.”

If you would still like to donate to Ocean Heroes you can do so through Mr Clark’s Instagram bio.

  • Written by Ocean Swims on 2 September 2022
  • (Updated on 3 August 2023)
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