British swimmer claims women’s record for fastest Lake Geneva crossing

A British endurance swimmer is believed to have broken a world record for the fastest swim across Lake Geneva.

Sam Farrow, 31, from Wigan, swam the length of the lake from the Château de Chillon to the Bains des Pâquis – a distance of 45.2 miles (72.8km) – in 22 hours and 48 minutes.

She said: “I don’t think it’s quite sunk in yet. We went out there to try and get the fastest British female record and just in hopes of finishing it. I wanted to see what I could do. I never expected to get the overall fastest female or the time that I got. Complete shock.”

During the swim she had to tread water when taking breaks for food and drink. “You’re not allowed to touch the boat and no one on the boat is allowed to touch you,” she said. “They’ll put carbohydrate powders and little snacks in bottles on a rope, and they throw it out to me and I have to tread water while I eat.”

She endured fatigue, back aches and cramps and said she tried to take in the sights of Lake Geneva to get her through the pain.

“I got to about 55km, my back fatigued, so all the big muscles in my back were just cramping. The last 15km was agony,” she said. “Every so often I would have to stop swimming and curl up into a ball to bend my spine.”

She added: “I would just make myself think: you’re in the middle of Geneva at 4am, it’s absolutely beautiful. How lucky are you? Not many people get the chance to do this. Every time I had something potentially negative come in, I just tried to switch it.”

Farrow’s longest swims before Lake Geneva were across Loch Awe, Loch Lomond and Loch Ness in Scotland, which measure between 36km and 41km. She started training for her more than 70km swim in December, juggling it with her job as an infant feeding practitioner and spending time with her two children.

“I’ve not done as much training as most of us would do,” she said. “I have two jobs and two children, so it’s definitely a juggling act.”

Her swim is yet to be ratified and she will find out at the end of September if she has officially broken the world record.