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Meet Dr. Julie Bradshaw MBE, Long Distance Swimmer

Swimming Achievements

New World Record 2004

Age-40 Record 1st Ladies Relay Team Triple Channel 32hrs 31mins
New World Record 2004
Age-40 1st Ladies Relay Team Two-Way Channel 19hrs 7mins
New World Record 2002
Age-38 English Channel - Butterfly 14hrs 18mins
BRITISH RECORD (CURRENT) 2001 Age-37 Ladies One Way Channel Relay 9hrs 23mins
WORLD RECORD & FIRST PERSON (CURRENT) 2000 Age-36 2 Way Coniston Butterfly 11miles 8hrs 42mins
WORLD RECORD & FIRST WOMAN (CURRENT) 1995 Age-31 Coniston 5¼ miles Butterfly 3hrs 7mins
WORLD RECORD & FIRST PERSON/ WOMAN (CURRENT) 1991 Age-27 Windermere 10½ miles Butterfly 6hrs 7mins
REPRESENTED ENGLAND 1982 18 Windermere International 16miles 8hrs
WORLD RECORDS FIRST WOMAN (CURRENT) 1981 Age-17 4 Way Windermere 42miles 21hrs 17mins
WORLD RECORD & FIRST WOMAN (CURRENT) 1980 Age-16 3 Lakes in 1 day 14hrs 12mins
LADIES RECORD 1980 Age-16 Loch Lomond 25 miles 12 hrs 44mins
WORLD RECORD & FIRST WOMAN (CURRENT) 1980 Age-16 3 Way Windermere 31 miles 20hrs 17mins
BRITISH JUNIOR RECORD (CURRENT) 1979 Age-15 English Channel 22 miles 10hrs 9 mins
JUNIOR RECORD (CURRENT) 1978 Age-14 Morecambe Bay 10 miles 2hrs 48 mins
JUNIOR RECORD 1978 Age-14 Lake Windermere 10½ miles 4hrs 38 mins

Loughborough University lecturer and swimmer, Julie Bradshaw is no stranger to long distance swimming. She first swam the Channel at the age of 15.
Julie's most recent challenge was 0n July 9th 2005, to go along with 25 other solo swimmers and relay teams set out from North Cove, Manhattan, to attempt to become the 1st lady to swim the 28 miles around the island. Unfortunately, she hit the tail end of Hurricane Denis, which had brought torrential downpours in New York City.

Everything was going 'swimmingly'. Julie was 'flying' along when suddenly a storm erupted in the 6th hour of the swim. Consequently, officials 'pulled the plug' and stopped the race, which unfortunately no swimmer completed.

Undeterred by her disappointment, Julie set her sights on another world record attempt, this time in Scotland. Along with 5 other swimmers from her team of last year's channel swim (Dee & Liane Llewellyn, Pip Spibey, Andrea Gellan and Lucy Roper), they set out to become the 1st ever team to do a TRIPLE LOCH NESS swim, a distance of around 75 miles.
The girls battled with the cold water in Scotland a mere 52 degrees and force 6/7 winds on the 2nd and 3rd legs to Break the World Record of the 3 way Loch Ness swim.They completed the swim in 34hrs 36 mins and 23 sec. The team send their thanks to the RNLI pilots and Greta Gall for their help and encouragement throughout the swim.

Julie's World Record Loch Ness Swim Aug 2005

Julie, Dee & Liane Llewellyn, Pip Spibey, Andrea Gellan and Lucy Roper

JULIE TEAMS UP WITH AQUA SPHERE TO BREAK THE TRIPLE CHANNEL RECORD

On 23/24th July 2004, Julie and her team of ladies set out to achieve what no other women’s team had done. The current record for swimming the Channel multiple times is held by a Polish team, who completed a double-crossing. Julie and her team recorded a Triple Crossing of the English Channel, a staggering distance of around 80 miles. They broke the existing 2 Way by over an hour (19 hours 07 minutes), a world record. If that was not good enough, they then secured a place in the record books after 32 hours 31 minutes swimming landing in France – the Triple had at last been achieved by a ladies team. This makes a total of 13 world long distance swimming records for Julie to date.
Julie wants to share with people what it's really like being a channel swimmer. If you have never experienced it it's hard to even imagine.




Julie was lucky to contact Endless Pools, an outdoor small pool, with adjustable current and temperature to suit (ideal for my open water.) She got it from the USA last year...equivalent of a runners treadmill, and its because of this, that she got some funding to help her on her way.



Many of you may look at Julies World Record achievements and wonder why this women would put herself through this grueling sport. Let me say on Julies behalf it's not all been done without pain along the way.

Julie and the team are well aware of the hazards that could thwart their next record attempts , as they had to abort their 2003 attempt at a two-way crossing half-way through due to thick fog and nearly being hit by a passing oil tanker! However, they are still determined and Julie believes that their chances will be increased by the magnetic Bioflow wristbands that each team member will be wearing!

In August 2000 Julie was forced to abandon her record attempt to swim the English Channel only 2 miles from France due to tendons and ligaments of her forearm becoming injured. She says, "After twelve and a half hours in the water, I had to make the difficult decision to stop or risk long term injury. The next day my arm swelled up so much that it was the size of the bottom of my leg!"

By February 2001, Julie was still in so much pain that she was unable to do butterfly stroke. However, this changed when she started wearing a Bioflow magnotherapy wristband. Julie explains, "My Bioflow looks like a sports watch and contains a patented magnetic field called Central Reverse Polarity. This mimics the pulsed electromagnetic fields used by physiotherapists, and people and animals have experienced relief from a wide variety of conditions since wearing a Bioflow."
Within weeks Julie was swimming again, and went on to achieve her dream and became the world record holder for swimming the Channel using butterfly stroke in August 2002.

Julie would like to thank everyone for their continued support. Raising money is not always easy. Should anyone wish to sponsor her for next challenges ahead please contact 07941 467291.

2007 Update on Julie

Julie breaks record on Windermere

THE LOUGH ERNE CHALLENGE – ANOTHER RECORD FOR JULIE


Dr. Julie Bradshaw MBE, received an Honorary Doctorate the year I was awarded an MBE (2006) for Services to Swimming and Charity.
And in May 2007 I was inducted into the marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in Fort Lauderdale


Incidentally, I'm now Secretary of the Channnel Swimming Association as well as lecturer at Loughborough University. In fact, if anyone is interested in a Channel swim they can contact me on
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