Bedhampton woman with fitted pacemaker becomes oldest person to swim solo around Jersey

Chris Pitman, 71, took on the momentous 41-mile solo swim from Elizabeth Castle at St Aubin’s Bay and completed her swim in 11 hours and 32 minutes on August 13.

She said this was her ‘last ever’ solo feat after taking up long distance swimming at the age of 58 after a knee injury meant she had to give up running – the sport she loved most.

Chris, who has a pacemaker fitted, swam an anticlockwise route around the island, returning to St Aubin’s Bay by 5.28pm after setting off at 5.56am.

She explained this swim around Jersey ‘seemed a good one to finish on’.

She said: ‘I was quite elated to actually finish. My aim was to just get around Jersey and finish the swim which I did. To get the new record was just the icing on the cake.

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‘It's quite a long distance but it is tidal assisted so you get a push around the island.

‘The weather conditions were superb, I couldn’t have asked for a better day.’

The swimmer also holds the record for being in the oldest female team to swim across the English Channel and has competed in four relays across the channel from 2012 to 2017.

Chris, brought up in Southsea, did a lot of swimming as a child.

In 2012 Chris attempted her childhood dream to do a solo swim across the channel but on the day it wasn’t meant to be.

But in 2019 she took on the Jersey to France swim solo and got the record for the oldest person to complete the feat.

Taking about where her love for the sport began she said: ‘When I moved back to Bedhampton 20 years ago I did a little bit of swimming. I decided that when I was 58 my knees were no longer any good to do running so I had to look for another challenge in life.

‘That’s when I took up long distance swimming.’

Chris’ took on the swim in aid of Rowans Hospice with an original fundraising of £250.

Donations are still coming in with the current total at £850.

Go to justgiving.com/Christine-Pitman