Passages: English Channel Record Holder Barry Watson Dies at Age 81<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Barry Watson, who held the record for the fastest English Channel crossing from 1964 to 1977, died this week at the age of 81.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/passages-english-channel-record-holder-barry-watson-dies-at-age-81\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Passages: English Channel Record Holder Barry Watson Dies at Age 81\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Barry Watson, who held the record for the fastest English Channel crossing from 1964 to 1977, died this week at the age of 81.\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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{"id":444452,"date":"2020-08-20T11:22:31","date_gmt":"2020-08-20T18:22:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=444452"},"modified":"2020-08-20T11:22:31","modified_gmt":"2020-08-20T18:22:31","slug":"passages-english-channel-record-holder-barry-watson-dies-at-age-81","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/passages-english-channel-record-holder-barry-watson-dies-at-age-81\/","title":{"rendered":"Passages: English Channel Record Holder Barry Watson Dies at Age 81"},"content":{"rendered":"

Barry Watson<\/strong>, who held the record for the fastest English Channel crossing from 1964 to 1977, died this week at age 81.<\/p>\n

A native of Crossflatts, West Yorkshire, Watson swam the channel in 1964 at age 26<\/a>. His time of nine hours, 35 minutes to cover the 21 miles from England to France held for nearly two decades. It was finally taken down in 1977<\/a> by Egyptian teenager Nasser Elshazly<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Watson completed three more channel crossings in 1968, 1969 and 1970, among other open-water feats. He continued to swim into his 70s<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Watson was coached by a pair of Olympians, Alistair Brownlee<\/strong> and Jonathan Brownlee,<\/strong> at the Bingley Harriers and Athletics Club. He was inducted to the International Swimming Hall of Fame<\/a> in 1973<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cMyself and hundreds are deeply shocked,\u201d Tim Midgley<\/strong> of Bingley Harriers told the Telegraph & Argus<\/em><\/a>. \u201cI\u2019m honoured to have known such a legend. Barry Watson\u2019s legacy lives forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watson\u2019s open-water exploits within Britain included several championships in Lake Windermere (one-way and two-way), the 1967 Loch Lomond championship and four winning swims from Fleetwood to Morecambe.<\/p>\n

\u201cBarry was a legend in Channel swimming,\u201d Channel Swimming Association Mike Read<\/strong> said. \u201cHe was a wonderful sportsman, the sort of swimmer who would stop and wait whilst you emptied your leaking goggles and still go on to beat you. \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cA true legend, who will be greatly missed, the Board and all the members send Linda and his family our deepest condolences.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"