Former Worcester Warriors and Scotland centre Alex Grove has reflected on the “absolute battle” of swimming the Channel, a challenge he completed in just under 14 hours as he raised money for Acorns Children’s Hospice.
Alex Grove completes Channel swim
Grove, who spoke to Last Word on Rugby before the challenge, set off at 00.30 this morning (Thursday) and completed the challenge when he arrived on French soil after 13 hours and 57 minutes of swimming.
And not long after he was out the water, the three-times capped Scotland internationalist posted a video on Instagram, describing the challenge as “absolute hell”.
He continued: “I had jellyfish wrapped round my arm, my chin and my chest, not all at the same time,” before adding that he’d been hit by two seals while completing the crossing.
“That was really hard,” he continued.
“The first three-and-a-half hours were an absolute battle, then it calmed down a bit.”
He went on to thank everyone who’s helped him raise more than £25,000 for Acorns Children’s Hospice.
And the rugby community also passed on their congratulations to the ex-Worcester midfielder.
Amazing mate congrats 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
— Danny Care (@dannycare) August 6, 2020
Reaction from Rugby Community
Worcester Warriors described him as a “hero”, while there were congratulations from Andy Goode, Jim Hamilton, Ruaridh Jackson, Tim Visser, Kai Horstmann and others.
Acorns posted their own message of thanks for Grove’s “phenomenal achievement”, which read: “We can’t thank you enough for supporting us, the amount you’ve raised will make a massive difference to the children and families we care for.”
You can view some of the highlights of Grove’s epic swim by visiting his Instagram page – @AlexGrove87, or to add to his already impressive fundraising total, click here
Main image credit: Embed from Getty Images
