Ross Edgley Ends Record Breaking Swim in Hospital

After swimming continuously for 2 days and 2 nights across Loch Ness

Read time 3 mins

Published Sep 26, 2022

Base editorial team
BASE editorial team BASE writers and editors who live and breathe adventure every day. We love adventure storytelling as much as we love adventure itself.

Ross Edgley during the Great British Swim, 2018. Photo © Olaf Pignataro / Red Bull

After two days and nights in the cold waters of Loch Ness, Ross Edgley’s latest record breaking attempt has ended in hospital.

The 36 year old set off last Wednesday with the aim to swim 100 miles, setting a new world record for the longest continuous swim without aid of tide or current. On Friday, having covered about 49 miles, with 52 hours and 39 minutes spent in the cold waters, suffering with nausea, chaffing and exhaustion the challenge was ended at Fort Augustus.

Over the weekend, on social media Ross posted a photo of himself in a hospital bed with the caption:

As you can probably tell the swim didn’t entirely go to plan. Will update properly later but wanted to publish a HUGE post of gratitude to everyone and say A GIANT thank you to my AMAZING support team.

© Ross Edgely / Instagram

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Ross Edgley (@rossedgley)

During his time in Loch Ness, Edgley faced temperatures as low as 5ºC and faced winds of up to 20 knots.

‘It was one of the biggest challenges of my career physically and mentally, but the important purpose behind it really motivated me to push myself as far as I did and I’m so proud to have inspired people to make a difference,’ said Ross.

It was one of the biggest challenges of my career physically and mentally, but the important purpose behind it really motivated me to push myself as far as I did

In 2018 Ross Edgley became the first person to swim the circumference of Great Britain, covering 1,780-miles around Great Britain, without touching land or a boat for the whole period he was in the water.

This latest challenge was in support of a conservation project in partnership with Talisker and Parley TV as the companies strive to protect marine eco systems, specifically Scotland’s sea kelp forests.

While he didn’t successfully complete his goal or swimming 100 miles, it is thought that he may have still set the record for the longest open water swim in Loch Ness, the verification of which is currently being processed.

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