Meda triumphs again

Press, 28 August 1978, Page 1

Meda triumphs again

NZPA London The Wellington teen-age swimmer, Meda McKenzie, achieved her third big endurance feat when on Saturday she became the first person to swim both ways across the Bristol Channel in western Britain.

McKenzie, aged 16, left the water just north of Weston-super-Mare, 12 hours and 10 minutes after entering it.

“It was just as tough as Cook Strait and the English Channel,” said a tired Meda. “I’m now going to have a good rest and go home.” Her route to the Welsh coast near Penarth and back took her through mud, driftwood, swirling tides and — the thing that surprised her most — a

cheering welcoming party of an estimated 3000 people.

“The welcome was unbelievable,” said her coach, Mr Clive Lewis. “I had never seen anything like it before. The police said there were more people to meet Meda than there were last year to meet the Queen.” For a while, Meda wondered whether she would succeed. She made the turn in Wales in a record five hours and it was because the outward trip was so fast that she ran into problems returning. “The tide hadn’t turned the way we thought it would on the way back, and Meda had to swim into the incoming tide," said Mr Lewis. “It took her

about two hours to swim 400 metres. It was more time-consuming than worrying because Meda is a very strong swimmer. “It became a matter of flogging away and making sure she didn’t begin to drift back.

“The only other problems she had were with the pollution in the Channel. It was so dirty and muddy — on a couple of occasions she had to dodge hunks of driftwood,” Mr Lewis said.

Meda McKenzie’s only souvenirs from the more than 12 hours in the water were bruising on her legs, from water pressure on her muscles, and a cramp in the shoulders and neck from having to lift her head to check on the position of the pilot boat.