Endurance swimmer ‘in shock’ over possible Lake Geneva world record

A British endurance swimmer says she is in “complete shock” as she is believed to have broken a world record for being the fastest female to swim across Lake Geneva.

It took Sam Farrow 22 hours and 48 minutes to continuously swim the length of the lake, which is situated on the north side of the Alps between France and Switzerland.

The 31-year-old covered a distance of 45.2 miles (72.8 km).

Ms Farrow, from Wigan, Greater Manchester, said she had endured fatigue, back aches and cramps during her swim, but the beautiful scenery had helped her through her pain.

Ms Farrow, whose record is yet to be ratified, said: “I don’t think it’s quite sunk in yet.

“We went out there to try and get the fastest British female record and just in hopes of finishing it – I wanted to see what I could do.

“I never expected to get the overall fastest female or the time that I got. Complete shock.”

The record is sometimes referred to as The Signature and is set by the Lake Geneva Swimming Association, an organisation recognised globally by endurance swimmers to adjudicate the swim from Chateau de Chillon to the Bains des Paquis.

Ms Farrow said: “I got to about 55km, my back fatigued, so all the big muscles in my back were just cramping.

“The last 15km was agony. Every so often, I would have to stop swimming and curl up into a ball to bend my spine.

“I would just make myself think, ‘you’re in the middle of Geneva at 4am, it’s absolutely beautiful. How lucky are you?’ Not many people get the chance to do this.

“Every time I had something potentially negative come in, I just tried to switch it.”

Ms Farrow’s longest swim before Lake Geneva was across Loch Ore, Loch Lomond and Loch Ness in Scotland, which each measure 22 miles (36km).

She started training for this challenge in December, which she said had been “a juggling act” due to her two jobs and two children.

“I think with endurance swimming, I mean, with a lot of endurance sports, it’s mental a lot of it,” she said.

“Your training is going to take you so far, but I think a lot of it is whether you can keep your head positive.”

She will find out at the end of September if she has officially broken the world record.