Alec Richardson
Open Water Swimming Highlights[edit]
- He completed a crossing of Bristol Channel from Penarth to Clevedon in England on 16 August 2017 in 5 hours 58 minutes 3 seconds.
- He wrote the 182-page book Ask Me Why I'm Stood Here: A Bristol Channel Swim Tale, released on 14 November 2018.
Summary of Ask Me Why I'm Stood Here: A Bristol Channel Swim Tale[edit]
After 10 years of living with frequent discomfort and exhaustion from an unidentified condition, teamed with the struggles of balancing fatherhood and work alongside nagging doubts about his general place in the world, Alec Richardson found open water swimming. As a middle aged man, with three busy kids and a teaching job to fill his days, Alec returned to the sport that gave him so much pleasure as a youngster to try to re-find his sense of adventure, to give him a focus, and to give him an excuse to up his calorific intake (an extra layer helps with the cold apparently!)
While gazing across the Bristol Channel from England to Wales one morning, he started to wonder if he was capable of swimming across this scarily difficult, yet enticingly challenging stretch of water.
This is the story of how Alec planned and completed the resulting swim from Penarth to Clevedon in a respectable time and recounts tales of sunrises, seaweed caresses, mermaids and mashed boiled eggs. A first-hand account of what goes into a journey like this, full of self-reflection and off-beat ponderings which are sure to strike a chord with anyone toiling through their own mid-life adventure, but also full of helpful tips and advice for anyone planning their own endeavours. Not just a book about swimming, a life affirming tale of frailty, endeavour and a man’s struggle to wear Speedos in public.
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