Four years ago I was an occasional pool swimmer, logging 20 lengths or so at my local baths a couple of times a week. In 2006 I took up open water swimming in order to take on the challenge of swimming across the English Channel. In October 2008 I left my full time position as head of communications for a round the world yacht race in order to take on a number of extreme swims and to raise £50,000 for three charities in the process.

My initial campaign spanned 18 months and started with the Finnish Ice Swimming Championships in February 2009. I competed against a field of over 600 international swimmers at the annual event which took place in a frozen lake in Imatra on the Finnish-Russian Border. At the beginning of August I was one of just two women to complete the gruelling British Long Distance Swimming Association’s Double Windermere Race, two lengths of the largest natural lake in England totalling 21 miles.
 
At the end of August 2009 I swam from Europe to Asia in the annual race across the Hellespont Straits in the wake of Lord Byron who swam the same stretch of water some 200 years ago.
 
On 27-28 September 2009 I successfully completed a solo cross Channel swim, the Everest of marathon swimming – covering 27 miles in 21 hours and 20 minutes.
A successful Channel swim takes months of gruelling training and more than a little luck. I faced strong tides and waves, unpredictable weather and jellyfish along with the 600 commercial vessels and ferries passing through the relatively narrow Dover Straits every day.

On 4 June 2010 I swam the Gibraltar Striats from Spain to Morocco in 5 hours and 59 mins, and in January 2011 I swam at the UK Winter Swimming Championships. In February 2011 I swam at the world's biggest open water swimming event, the Midmar Mile in South Africa.

Read about how I am tackling these swims as part of my mission to raise £50,000 for three great causes. Thank you so much for your support.

Help Anna reach her target of raising £50,000 for three great charities. All donations, great or small, will make a big difference. You don't need to get wet or cold to help. Just click on the link below: