Wendens Ambo swimmer crosses English Channel for Aspire

Jo Slota-Newson, 40, began her swim just before 9pm on Thursday, August 1.

She had previously taken part in a channel relay in 2022, and a Jersey to France solo swim in 2023, but taking on the channel solo was her biggest challenge yet - swimming a distance of 21 miles as the crow flies, but made longer by the tides.

Jo Slota-Newson being given food by the support crew (Image: Supplied)

Jo said: "The first seven hours were spent swimming through the pitch black alongside a support boat.

"The night was spent bumping into jellyfish and hoping for the dawn.

"The beautiful sunrise anticipated to lift spirits never appeared, as the day finally dawned into thick fog, meaning the coast of France was not visible at all until only a mile or two of the swim remained."

Jo was accompanied by a crew in a boat, with the rules dictating she was not allowed to touch the boat during her swim.

She was also not allowed to wear a wetsuit in temperatures of roughly 16 degrees, instead wearing a standard swimming costume, cap and goggles.

The crew provided hourly warm carbohydrate drinks for Jo, and snacks thrown on a rope.

Jo Slota-Newson (second from left) after completing her swim in France (Image: Supplied)

After 12 hours of swimming, the changing tide started to sweep Jo along the coastline.

She finally crawled out onto a pebble beach near Escalles, south west of Calais, completing the swim in 15 hours and 35 seconds.

So far Jo has raised more than £4,100 of her £5,000 target. To donate go to https://www.justgiving.com/page/jo-slota-newson-channel.

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She is raising money for Aspire, who provide practical help to people have been paralysed by spinal cord injury.

People with spinal cord injury will lose muscle and sensory control, and a large majority will become full time wheelchair users for the rest of their lives.

Approximately 4,400 people sustain a spinal cord injury in the UK each year.

Aspire provides practical support to the roughly 105,000 people living with a spinal cord injury in the UK, from newly injured patients in hospital and throughout their lives.