Amy Ennion’s Marathon Swim Story

Amy Ennion doesn’t remember what possessed her to the sign up for her first 10K, which she confidently completed in a wetsuit, but she does remember showing up to swim Windermere and discovering non wetsuited swimmers gladly jumping in to 16 degree water. Suddenly her eyes were opened to world of marathon swimming per channel rules

In preparation for the English Channel Amy tackled the swim from Jersey to France, briefly holding the women’s speed record (even if it was only for a few weeks). Her pioneering spirit kicked in – and Amy went on to become the first person swim from Guernsey to France.

I was surprised to realize that Amy has only been marathon swimming since 2020, and enjoyed talking with her about her well rounded approach to training.

We talk about:

Trusting your training, but ultimately, trusting yourself.

How water polo skills transfer well to marathon swimming.

And the value of Identifying your weakness and building them in to your training plan.

I hope you enjoy Amy’s story!

In her own words:

I’ve been in the water in different sports my entire life to varying degrees of success, but I didn’t even know that the Marathon Swimming community existed until I stumbled upon a group of swimming-costume-clad loonies in Windermere in the summer of 2019. All I remember is thinking how weird they were- just going in 16*C water in their costumes- and how I would never do that myself…… and then somehow I ended up signing up to swim the English Channel solo!

Since then, I’ve been pushing distance bit by bit by bit, trying to find my personal limits. I’ve done a couple of different solo ocean swims in the lead up to the English Channel (including a world first!), and a couple of lake swims working towards the 70km signature length of Lake Geneva in 2023.

Amy Ennion (swimlongandprosper.com)

Amy Ennion becomes first person to swim from Guernsey to France – Outdoor Swimmer Magazine