For more than 15 hours, Christine “Chrissy” Turpin had one job: just keep swimming.
The 47-year-old Meridian resident and longtime endurance athlete completed the English Channel in 15 hours and five minutes, covering roughly 30 miles from the coast of England to the shores of Wissant, France in early August.
She had already endured cold water, rough waves and repeated jellyfish stings when the French coastline drew close. Her arms were heavy, her shoulders felt like they were on fire. After spending nearly an entire day in the water, the place she had spent months trying to reach was finally in front of her.
But the English Channel was not finished with her.
“The currents are really strong as you get closer to France, and you have to break through the currents in order to make your landing,” Turpin said. “You think you’re close, but you’re not. You’re still hours away.”
Turpin kept fighting until one stroke brought her fingertips through the sand beneath the water. It was the moment she realized her swim was completed.
“I was battling the current all the way to the end,” Turpin said. “That moment was everything. I’ll remember it for the rest of my life.”
Turpin first considered crossing the Channel three years ago during a conversation with her brother and sister, who also grew up swimming. She initially thought the idea sounded crazy, but after spending the next few days researching the challenge, she couldn’t stop thinking about it.
She hired a coach and began 10 months of structured training, spending hours in the pool each week to build endurance. During the winter, much of that work happened inside swimming pools, where sessions became so long that Turpin developed rashes and hives from a chlorine allergy.
When spring arrived, the training moved into Idaho’s open water. Turpin started in Quinn’s Pond before progressing to Lucky Peak, Payette Lake, Arrowrock, McCall and other waters, acclimating to temperatures around 52 degrees without a wetsuit and eventually completing swims lasting as long as 10 hours.
Jill Wright, who swims with Turpin through Sawtooth Masters, a Boise-based adult swim club, became one of her regular training partners throughout the process. Sometimes Wright swam with Turpin; other times, she followed from a kayak or paddleboard as her friend spent hour after hour in the water.
Shortly before Turpin left for England, Wright woke around 5 a.m. and headed to Payette Lake, where Turpin completed another six-hour swim. The training taught Turpin more than how to endure the distance. She practiced feeding in the water, managing fatigue and keeping her body functioning when stopping was not an option.
Still, Wright knew there were limits to preparing for the Channel from a landlocked state.
“There’s not anything in Idaho that can prepare you for ocean swimming,” Wright said.
Once Turpin entered the Channel, she tried not to think about the miles separating England and France. Instead, she reduced the entire crossing to 30-minute increments.
Her support crew traveled beside her aboard Rowena, providing nutrition every half-hour while keeping watch over her progress.
“As bad as it got, I just kept thinking, it’s one day. It’s just one really hard day,” Turpin said. “I had so many hard days leading up to [the English Channel] in those 10 months of training.”
About six hours into the crossing, Turpin said the wind increased to roughly 22 mph and the waves grew. Then, between two shipping lanes, she encountered a roughly five-mile stretch filled with jellyfish.
Some appeared individually. Others gathered in clusters Turpin described as being “as big as my house.” With no path around them, she swam through.
“I got stung really bad,” Turpin said. “The compass jellyfish were the bad ones. I hit one really bad on my face, and it stung my back and my legs as it went over the top. I really got stung all over.”
The jellyfish were only one part of an environment Turpin could not control. Wind, waves and shifting tides can change a Channel crossing throughout the day, sometimes leaving even experienced swimmers unable to reach the other side.
Amy Mazur, 63, experienced that unpredictability firsthand during her own English Channel attempt in July of last year. The Idaho open-water swimmer spent 12 hours, 57 minutes in the water and covered approximately 21 miles before ending her attempt with about six miles remaining. Mazur said the changing tide meant those final miles could have required roughly eight more hours of swimming.
“You can’t, a human being can’t beat a tide,” Mazur said. “You have to go with the tide.”
That same unpredictability awaited Turpin near France. After roughly 13 hours, she could see the coastline, but the current continued pushing against her as she tried to make landfall. Wright watched from Rowena as Turpin fought toward shore, while Turpin tried to ignore the pain spreading through her shoulders.
Eventually, her fingers touched sand.
Turpin stood and heard people on shore speaking French, a sound that made the distance she had traveled suddenly feel real. She cleared the water, turned toward Rowena and raised her arms as the boat sounded its horn.
“I couldn’t believe I was in France hearing people speak French,” Turpin said. “And I had just left England 15 hours ago.”
Turpin received a medal and will receive a certificate for the crossing, but her favorite keepsake came directly from the place she spent months trying to reach. Following a Channel swimming tradition, she picked up a small brown pebble from the French beach.
“That’s my favorite thing from my swim,” Turpin said, “even more than my medal.”
The English Channel may be behind her, but Turpin is not finished chasing endurance challenges. She plans to return to triathlon racing with another major goal in mind: qualifying for the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii.
After spending years preparing to swim from England to France, Turpin is ready to trade some of those hours in the water for running shoes and a bike as she turns toward the next challenge.
