Ross Edgley has finally completed the Great British Swim. He is the first person to swim around mainland Great Britain.
The 33-year-old athlete kicked off his swimming marathon in Margate, Kent, on June 1. He swam 2,000 miles at sea and spent 157 days in the water.
Edgley battled grueling ocean conditions, jellyfish sting, Storm Ali and Callum, and a disintegrating tongue while swimming around Great Britain.
The British strongman never took a day off, even when injured or facing sickness. And despite the extreme waves, winds, and currents he met, Ross Edgley.
As he was about to reach the shore of Margate, 300 swimmers from the Outdoor Swimming Society joined the strength athlete for the last strokes. When Edgley stepped on terra firma, a crowd cheered and congratulated him.
"It feels a bit weird on land! A bit too solid for my liking! I almost fell over when I started to jog into shore," explained Ross Edgley.
"I knew the Great British Swim would be the hardest thing I've ever attempted. I guess I was very naive at the start, and there were moments when I really did begin to question myself."
A Swim For The Ages
On his swimming adventure, Ross Edgley broke the record for the world's longest staged sea swim, became the first person to swim the entire south coast of England, and swam from Land's End to John O'Groats in 62 days.
In the end, Ross Edgley swam the equivalent of 64,373 lengths of an Olympic-sized swimming pool and 100 times the length of the English Channel.
During the 23 weeks at sea, the British swimmer consumed around 1,884,000 calories and used three kilograms of vaseline for chaffing.
Every day, Edgley swam for 12 hours and rested for another 12 hours. His top swim speed was 8.7 knots (16 km/h or 10 mph), and his longest swim in a single tide was 18.1 nautical miles.
The Great British Swimmer suffered 36 jellyfish stings and grew his beard to try to prevent more stings.