By Phillip Whitten
DOVER, England, August 29. US MASTERS swimmer George Brunstad became the oldest person ever to conquer the English Channel when he scrambled up onto the French beach of Sangatte early this morning.
The 70 year-old retired airline pilot completed the 21-mile swim from Dover to Sangatte in 15 hours 59 minutes. Australian Bertram Batts held the previous record for the oldest person to swim the Channel. He was 67 when he made the crossing in 1987.
Brunstad, of Wilton, Connecticut, had originally planned to make the attempt on his birthday last Wednesday, but bad weather forced him to postpone the swim. He is the latest in a long line of Connecticut residents to swim the Channel: the small eastern state probably has produced more English Channel conquerors than any other region in the world.
Brunstad's, whose plans to swim the Channel were featured in a SWIM Magazine story earlier this year, was elated upon reaching dry land:
"I feel wonderful," he said. "I am tired, but this is it, I've got the world record and I feel wonderful.
"When I arrived I just said 'Praise the Lord,' stood on the beach and raised my arms in a V sign," he said.
Brunstad took a year to prepare for the challenge, training in the cold waters off the coast of Maine. He used the swim to raise thousands of dollars for his charity Centre for Hope, set up to help children in Haiti following a trip with his wife to the village of Hinche in Haiti.