Melanie Tyrrell’s Marathon Swim Story
Resilient. It wasn’t something that Melanie Tyrrell considered herself. Despite falling off a horse, requiring multiple surgeries to regain mobility! It took Melanie completing the English Channel for her to realize it herself.
Hello and welcome to Marathon Swim Stories where we explore the human side of the super human feats of endurance swimmers and those who support them. I’m marathon swimmer and coach, Shannon Keegan.
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I hope you enjoy listening to Melanie’s tale of resilience.
In her own words:
- Club swimmer (breaststroke) from age 10-14.
- After that, casual swimmer, mostly dipped in pools on holiday and did a few lengths in a pool on occasion until
- 2004 various short open water swims
- 2007 horse riding accident resulting in multiple fractures and surgeries
- Subsequently completed various open water swims up to 14k but in significant pain and with reduced mobility due to multiple shoulder fracture
- 2016 Further shoulder surgery/repairs
- 2019 English Channel Relay
- 2020 Robben Island to Blouberg swim, English Channel Solo
2004
I did a few sprint triathlons and runs (mostly 10K and half marathon distance to prove a point when our local gym gave my husband 10 minutes of running on a treadmill as part of his fitness programme and gave me walking on an incline. I was a very average cyclist and a terrible runner. I also found the mass start of the swim quite a shock after pool swimming.
2004/2005 – Rescue 2 horses
Ended up rescuing a couple of horses and then figured I should learn to ride!
2007 – Fall off horse
Fell off one of the horses, sustaining four fractures. Three to the left shoulder (proximal humerus) and one to right hand. Hubby dislocated his shoulder in the same accident so by the time we left the hospital, I was in two slings, he was in one.
My injuries were quite complex and required three operations. I was unable to lay down for 3 months due to the wires holding my shoulder together.
It took at least a year to get back some movement but was still in a lot of discomfort and my swim stroke was very compromised.
Up to that point, I had taken my ability to swim for granted and only when I feared I may lose it, did I start to appreciate it and work hard to get it back.
I later went on to do lots of local open water swims up to 14k but shoulder was always a problem and I was always easily identifiable by the fact I tended to drag my left arm.
2015
Had got an entry to swim Lake Windermere but close to the time, I was having a lot of shoulder pain. My physio advised me to go back to the Shoulder Consultant which resulted in further surgery to shave off a few millimetres of my collar bone to make more room, repair various tears and scar tissue adhesions from the original accident.
After this second surgery, the pain was significantly reduced and my range of movement greatly increased.
2019 – start of my Channel Journey
Signed up for a Channel Relay swim and went to Croatia on a Swimquest channel training camp recommended to me with the aim of completing my 2 hour qualifier swim. This was where I met Guy Davis.
Came away having completed the 6 hour channel qualifier and was told that I had a channel swim in me. Was very excited and scared at the prospect. It had been a childhood dream but one I never really imagined I would ever complete. It took me a few months to process the idea.
After my channel relay in September, I approached the pilot we did our boat practice with and secured a solo slot for July 2021.
Myself and Simon crewed for another of our Croatia buddies however he fell in the Marina en route to the boat and aborted the swim after just over 3 hours. I don’t know whether the Marina dip was a factor or not but it stayed in my mind and I questioned if there was anything we could have done to convince him to stay in the water.
2020 – Cape Town, Covid, Cancer & Channel swims
Went on a swim camp to Cape Town, South Africa and completed the Robben Island to Blouberg swim where I met and swam with Helen Powell who would later go on to crew for me.
In March, as we went into lockdown, my husband was diagnosed with prostate cancer. A biopsy confirming a 4mm tumour, 10% of which was the aggressive type that could break off and go elsewhere in the body. A subsequent scan suggested it had not spread any further and treatment options were discussed, with my husband opting to have his prostate removed.
I was signed up to do the Gibraltar Strait with a Spanish company called Neda El Mon in September and a Jersey to France solo in August as build up for my channel solo the following year.
Swimming helped to keep me sane whist we were waiting for Fenton to have surgery which happened in mid-July. The date of his surgery clashed with a ramp-up week with Dover Channel Training however once Fenton was discharged from hospital, he encouraged me to go join the final day of the camp, when I completed another six hour qualifying swim.
Knowing that the channel swim schedule was up in the air due to swimmers either being unable to train or travel, I started to consider the possibility of bringing forward my channel swim if space was available, as it may give me the opportunity for a later slot in warmer waters. The other reason for my preference of a later slot is that I suffer with hayfever and asthma, both of which tend to be bad in June/July.
My thinking at this point was to see how I got on with the Jersey to France solo which is about two thirds channel distance and then decide.
The swim itself was a daunting prospect as it would have been my longest swim to date by a few hours and I had travelled alone and was relying on the crew provided by the pilot. I flew to Jersey in mid-August only to return a week later, not having swum (I got as close as driving to the start point only for a thunderstorm to come over).
I flew home feeling very deflated. I had a call that afternoon from Stuart Gleeson (Guy’s pilot) after which I decided I should approach my pilot to see if a slot might be available. He confirmed that one was available on the next neap tide, the following week! I was scared but also relieved as it would mean my swim would be done before Guy’s as I had volunteered to crew for him.
After a few delays, my swim eventually went ahead on a spring tide on 6 September. After being so open about my J2F swim, including telling my parents, I decided to only tell a select few people for fear of jinxing it. Another factor was the fact that I wasn’t feeling confident and my Mum had told me that she didn’t want me to swim the channel.
6 Sept 2020: The Big Day
Arriving at the Marina, I managed to slip off the pontoon, wearing my dry robe, rucksack on my back, hot water flask in one hand, phone and another bag in the other hand. Eventually, with the help of 3 pilots, I was pulled out of the water and squelched my way to the boat.
The hot water flask was smashed and all my clothes were soaked through. I borrowed one of my crew’s dry robe for the journey to the start but by the time I got there, I was shivering and feeling sick but tried not to let on.
The conditions were quite rough but the sea felt warm after feeling cold on the journey over. On reaching the beach, a wave hit me and flattened me on the beach. Thankfully as it was dark, no one saw. My boat leader from the channel relay was out on the same night with this year’s team and shouted out to me. She later told me that their first swimmer, on entering the water at the start, got thrown back on to the beach by a wave.
At the 2 hour mark, I had my first feed …… or at least that was the plan. Only problem was I couldn’t open the bottle so had to be aborted.
Things went pretty smoothly from there until the tide turned an hour early and I was told I would need to pick up the pace to fight the tide. This went on for about two and three quarter hours. I was confused by the view in front of me which appeared to be white cliffs, not the beach I had envisaged. I later learned this was Cap Blanc Nez.
As it was high tide, I could only swim in to the cliffs, touch them and swim back to the boat. There were a number of small caves along the coastline and I was given strict instructions to avoid swimming into one of them.
I completed the swim in 14hrs44 only to learn when I got back on the boat that my trousers had been lost overboard somewhere in the channel whilst trying to dry them out 😊
I was asked jokingly, as I got dressed, what was next and I immediately said “Triple Crown!”
