Sarasota man swims English Channel, covering the 20.5-mile course in 11 hours, 44 minutes

SARASOTA - Fifteen miles in, Allen Hillman was in “the zone,” that place of total focus in the present moment. The 55-year-old Sarasota resident remained in this zen-like state for mile 16, 17, 18, 19, and even 20.

But, by then, Hillman had been joined in his zone by an unwelcome visitor. Pain. His forearms were screaming “No mas!”

“I tell people when they get in the water,” said Carol Breiter, Hillman’s coach, “the English Channel is going to find your weakness.”

For Hillman, it was his forearms.

The Sarasota Sharks swimmer pushed through the pain, completing the 20.5 miles across the English Channel, the gulf between England to France, in 11 hours and 44 minutes on Sept. 8.

Channel water temperature was 66 degrees

Of those 42,240 seconds, Hillman’s favorite were those final few needed to exit the Channel’s 66-degree water.

“It’s bloody tough,” said Hillman, who first began swimming in his native Pennsylvania at age 5. “The Channel was the most pain I’ve ever had swimming.”

Breiter, 68, who first swam the Channel in 1983, wasn’t shocked.

“I’m surprised he felt his forearms,” she said. “You have to want it. So many people will quit, especially if it’s a little rough. They’ll say, ‘This sucks, I don’t want to do it.’ I’ve heard it all out there. F-bombs, everything.

“I even carry a witch’s hat in my crew bag. If I have to get a little testy with the swimmer, I’ll put on the witch's hat.”

Swimming the English Channel has been called the water version of climbing Mount Everest. But while, as of January 2023, 6,338 people have reached the summit of the world’s highest mountain, fewer than 2,000 have successfully completed the 20.5-mile swim. The first, Matthew Webb, in 1875, finished in 22 hours. In 1926, Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to swim the Channel, doing it in 14.5 hours, beating the men’s existing record by nearly two hours.

Hillman said about 130 swimmers a year take on the Channel. But when you factor in the water temperature, shifting currents, and unpredictable wind, the exertion level, he said, is greater than climbing Everest.

“It’s not easy,” Breiter said. “It’s never easy. You kind of see Jesus walking on the water. He might appear to you sometimes. It redefines fatigue and pain. It takes you down to a level that you probably have never been.”

Hillman first toyed with the idea of swimming the Channel in 2021. And after one of his Shark teammates, Bambi Bowman, did it, Hillman contacted Breiter, who served as Bowen’s coach for the swim. She is one of two approved trainers recognized by the Channel Swimming Association.

Hillman was given assignments to complete

“I thought, ‘If he’s a teammate of Bambi’s, he must be pretty good,’’’ Breiter said.

Before agreeing to coach a swimmer, Breiter will check his or her swimming background. “If they are strong swimmers, then I can take them on and mold them into a Channel swimmer.”

Breiter gave Hillman assignments, and much like a physical therapist outlining a rehab plan for a patient, it was up to Hillman to do them. She tested him on endurance, always critical in any marathon swim.

“She said I was pretty low maintenance,” Hillman said, “but she had specific targets in mind for times. I made a spreadsheet of her suggestions and incorporated them into my training.”

Said Breiter, “Not very much (change) at all. He had a really good stroke and really good strength. We just had to work on endurance. A lot of time, people can swim a good 5 to 10 miles, but the Channel is (20.5). The swim doesn’t really start until halfway across. That’s when you really have to dig deep. The tides can take you away from France.”

To swim the Channel by checking all the boxes isn’t cheap. A swimmer must book a pilot, who drives the boat which accompanies each swimmer across, three years in advance. He or she must join the Channel Association and pay its association fees.

Hillman estimates he spent $12,000, a total which included plane fare and accommodations for his wife, Margaret. Before swimming the Channel, a swimmer must do a coldwater swim (60 degrees or colder) in six hours or less. In June, Hillman swam 10.5 miles on Lake Tahoe in 58-degree water, finishing in five hours, 55 minutes.

A perfect day for swimming

When the day came for Hillman’s swim, the Channel gods smiled upon him.

“It was a perfect day,” Breiter said. “In 40 years, I’ve never seen the Channel like that. That calm. It was one of the lowest tides of the season and not a breath of wind. It wasn’t as challenging as it could have been.”

Said Hillman, “I enjoy swimming in the Gulf during a storm surge, and there was nothing like that on the Channel. A bit of roughness, but nothing like the Gulf.”

As a result, Hillman finished in a faster time than the 12 to 14 hours he had predicted, with nary a hiccup.

“He was one of my easiest swimmers ever,” Breiter said. “He was a pleasure to work with.”

“I go in the zone,” Hillman said, “and stayed there the entire time. I felt completely relaxed. I felt I could go on forever.”

Not allowed to touch the boat, or even accept food or drink from someone, Hillman was thrown a bottle of nutrition, hydration, or pain relief every 30 minutes.

“I’d chug it down, take two deep breaths, and go again,” he said.

Then it was time to re-enter the zone.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota man swims English Channel, joining the fewer than 2,000 to have done it