Professor Greg Whyte announces new solo swim challenge
UK's leading sports scientist will attempt to swim 135 miles of the Thames in a record time to raise awareness of water safety
Professor Greg Whyte has today announced his latest solo challenge. Starting on 11 July, Whyte will attempt to swim the 135 miles of the Upper Thames in a time of just four days.
The swim will be to raise awareness of drowning prevention and the importance of water safety in a link to his work with the RLSS and RNLI, but will also be a world record attempt.
Here at 220 Triathlon, we’re proud to partner with Whyte on the challenge and will be covering his training and the challenge as they unfold – plus keep watching for some exciting news about how you can have the opportunity to swim with him, too, to pick up some open-water skills yourself!
The challenge was launched in this video today, where Greg is shown training in much warmer water than he will experience in the Thames:
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A post shared by Greg Whyte (@profgregw)
Used to a challenge
A former modern pentathlon Olympian and regular 220 expert and columnist, Greg is no stranger to a challenge. As well as being the coaching support behind numerous Comic Relief sporting challenges over the years – including David Walliams’ Thames swim and Davina McCall’s 500-mile triathlon – he has also completed several of his own challenges.
In 2019 he completed the Norseman, earning the famed black t-shirt, a feat which was covered in the award-winning film Black & Whyte – A Norseman Story.
Then in 2021 when his target race, Patagonman was cancelled, he took on a solo triathlon around the course of the infamous Celtman – only in the depths of winter. That challenge was covered in issue 402 of 220 and will be featuring in a film later in the year.
To find out more about the challenge as it unfolds, follow @profgregw on Instagram and visit his website.
Helen Webster
Editor, 220 Triathlon 
