London, Aug 31 (IANS) A 70-year-old man Wednesday created a world record by becoming the oldest person to have swum across the English Channel.
Roger Allsopp, from Guernsey, a British Crown dependency, took nearly 18 hours to enter the record books as he made his way from Shakespeare Beach in Dover, Kent.
Aged 70 years and four months, Allsopp set off at 8 a.m. Tuesday and swam the 21 nautical miles for 17 hours and 51 minutes until he got to the French coast, the Daily Mail reported.
The former breast cancer surgeon took the accolade from former holder, George Brunstad, an American Airlines captain who did it aged 70 years and four days in August 2004.
Allsopp said: ‘This has been an incredible personal challenge for me…The fact that a man of my ‘grand’ age can achieve such a physical and mental challenge proves that you can live younger if you keep active in mind and body.’
His effort was recognised by the Guinness World Records.
Allsopp took on the challenge after watching an inscription at a pub in Dover that marked Brunstad’s cross-Channel achievement.
