Tuesday 25 February 2020

The 'King of The English Channel' Kevin Murphy visits Body and Mind Studio to collect "The Butlin Challenge Trophy - International Swim Across The Wash"

Left to Right: Beccy Hopfensperger, Paul Hopfensperger, Kevin Murphy, Kathy Batts.
On Thursday 20/02/2020, Beccy and I were delighted to welcome Kevin Murphy, the 'King of The English Channel' to Body and Mind Studio to collect the "The Butlin Challenge Trophy - International Swim Across The Wash" which has been in our possession as former Chairman and Honorary Secretary of the International Open Water Swimming Association (IOWSA) since 2009.

The Butlin Challenge Trophy - International Swim Across The Wash
Kevin was the first man, and second person ever to swim across The Wash on 26/05/1973 (full list of successful swims here) and following telephone discussions with him over the past few weeks, this is what we have decided.


Kevin is going to hand the trophy over to the British Long Distance Swimming Association (BLDSA) who  he informed me, originally ratified all open water swims in the 1970's, and any swims which may have happened in recent years and in the years to come, will have to be ratified by the BLDSA to have the swimmers name engraved on the trophy.

Successful Relay Swims - Further Information Here
For the historical record, it was a very interesting project using my own time, effort and resources to track this trophy down in 2009, and to read up about The Wash and ratify all known successful swims on behalf of IOWSA. I hope this historical trophy has many more names engraved on it in the future.