Catching up with Kingswood resident Adele Benson is no mean feat given that this woman is an extraordinary ultramarathon open water swimmer who never stays still.
In our June issue, we spoke with Adele about her plans to swim the Bristol Channel and raise funds for Toucan Diversity; an organisation focused on inclusion. Now, Adele has completed the mammoth swim and we wanted to find out how she got on, especially as it is 99 years since Kathleen Thomas became the first person of either sex to swim the route.
It was Saturday 5 September when Adele stepped into the water at Porthcawl, south Wales … before stepping back out in Glenthorne, north Devon, 14 hours and 20 minutes later. While that might technically be a distance of ‘just’ 16 miles, due to the tides, the true distance that Adele covered was 24 miles.
Speaking with Adele 10 days later, she said she had almost fully recovered except for a few lasting scabs from the jellyfish stings. “Luckily, all the jellyfish stings happened towards the end of the swim, when I was more towards England, but it was all in the night so that was really unnerving,” she laughs.
After starting the swim from Wales, Adele was followed closely by her support team on a boat. Although Adele was not allowed to touch the boat, her team were able to throw her a bottle of food every 30 minutes to help sustain her on the gruelling challenge.
And while swimmers like Kathleen Thomas were making do with nothing more than cups of Bovril, Adele was thankful that modern science has come up with more nutritionally balanced sports drinks that provide the high levels of carbohydrates and protein that she needs to keep going for such a long period of time. And a few treats, such as Jaffa Cakes.
The weather was also on Adele’s side, thanks to the warm summer we have experienced. It was around 18 degrees in the Bristol Channel during her swim, which Adele says was “glorious” and much more comfortable than when she swam the English Channel in 2024 in a chillier 13 degrees. However, her support crew, which includes husband Josh, are experienced in how to keep Adele’s temperature up and ensure she stays safe.
As for what Adele thinks about during all those hours in the water, the answer is very little. The meditative aspect of endurance sport is what appeals to her and what first sucked her in to spending such long period swimming: “It’s a place where I’m not getting constant notifications and not being bothered by people. I can just get my head down and swim.”
This has been a landmark year for Adele, who married her partner Josh in June and is preparing to celebrate her 30th birthday in November. But she’s still got her eye on yet more challenges and says she plans to enter a winter season, which will involve ice swimming. “I’ve entered for the GB Ice Champs, which are in South Wales in December,” Adele explains. “I’m competing in the 50 metres butterfly, and I’m having to learn to do butterfly for that.”
We have no doubt that she will splash it.