Martyn Webster’s Marathon Swim Story

Martyn Webster inadvertently moved to the open water swimming mecca of Rapperswil, Switzerland a handful of years ago and found himself diving in after a 25 year swimming hiatus. Following a successful 26km Lake Zurich Marathon Swim a friend suggested he go for The Channel, and so he did. Just like that, he was addicted.

Martyn is one who enjoys setting goals and working toward them, and he certainly makes it sound easy to do just that. “Once you get past the 6 hour mark, time just flies by.” he says, “it really flies”.

I hope you enjoy the nuggets of wisdom that Martyn shares in this episode!

In his own words:

Personal 

54 year old 

British National – from Yorkshire 

Reside in Rapperswil, Switzerland 

Married: to Cat – Kids: Tom (23), Matilda (21) 

Recent Swim History 

https://longswims.com/p/martyn-webster/

Triple Crowner (2017) and Barra Award Winner(2018)

Swim Training:  

Train mainly alone in Lake Zurich but at times with the Lake, Cake and Coffee Club in Zurich, a random group of swimmers from dippers to Channel Swimmers who swim all year around 

Qualified OWS Coach with STA in the UK. Although I haven’t done much with the qualification, it will come in handy one day 

Done a couple of Ice Kms over the last two years, but no ice miles 

Swims planned for 2021  English Channel, BLDSA Torbay, Around Jersey  Swim Deferred from this and last year  Cook, Molokai, SCAR

Aspirational Swims on the list but not planned yet Bristol, Ness, Neuchatel and maybe Lake Geneva to do one day…..and Lake Lucerne again 

Didn’t swim at all for 25 years 

Ancient Swim History 

England Youth Swimming Squad (1979-1983) 

Great Britain Age Group Squad (1982) – European Youth Championships – Innsbruck, Austria (1982) 

Yorkshire County Senior Team (1982-83) – as 15-year-old 

Yorkshire County Junior Team (1998-1984)

Uk Age Group British Record Holder – 14/15 yr Age Group (1982) 200m Butterfly 

UK Age Group National Championships Medalist -multiple

City of Leeds Squad Member (1977-1984) 

Other sport: Ironman (Barcelona – 2015), Ironman 70.3 Rapperswil, CH (2013,14,15),  Marathon Runs x 5 

Work: Master Brewer – Craft Beer Director, Carlsberg A’S  – 31 years working in the brewing industry, running and building breweries around the world 

Lived and worked outside of the Uk for 19 years – in Denmark, Nepal, Croatia, Thailand, Belgium, Switzerland and UK