The longest race of the year - the Rosie George Mile + 1 metre (or approx. 1600m + 39 inches, if you prefer).

Rosie’s formative experience in long-distance swimming started when, as a young girl of 16, she crewed on the boat of the Egyptian marathon swimming legend Abou Heif when he won a cross Channel swimming race in 1955 sponsored by the impresario Billy Butlin. His support crew were severely seasick and he kept asking her in arabic for "shay".  Rosie thought he was saying "shy".  She did eventually learn the Arabic word for tea, and several choice Arabic swear words that may be shared should you upset her!

Rosie went on to become the first European female and the third woman to swim the English Channel in both directions. 

In the 1950s the holiday camp magnate Billy Butlin organised a series of annual English Channel races.  Rosie swam in the1957, 1958 and 1959 events.  Atrocious weather worked against Rosie each time. Though her 1957 attempt was curtailed having swum for 13hrs 30 minutes, she was honoured for being the event's best British performer.

The Dover Museum website contains some great historic detail involving Rosie, as well as some brilliant photos.

Rosemary George, Great Britain - Channel Swimming Dover

This Youtube link will take you to a Pathe News film of the 1957 Billy Butlin Cross Channel race from France to England.  It gives an idea of the atrocious conditions that Rosie and her fellow swimmers faced.  Rosie swam for 13 hours and 30 minutes before being forced to curtail the swim.  Despite this, Rosie was awarded a prize for the best British performance.

The Butlin International Cross Channel Swimming Race 1957 (1957)

The Daily Mail races and the Billy Butlin Cross Channel International Swims were a series of professional marathon races across the English Channel that brought the best marathon swimmers in the world to the Dover Strait. Sponsored and organized by Billy Butlin of Butlin's Holiday Camps between 1953 and 1959, the races followed the tradition of the Daily Mail races across the English Channel in 1950-1952.

Unfortunately Rosie was stuck in traffic this morning and could not join us for the race and presentation.

So here is a photo from 22 June 2024.

Rosemary George, the 'Queen of Dover,' became only the third woman to swim the English Channel in both directions -  Dover-Calais in 1961 and Calais-Dover in 1967.  Trained by her mother, Rosie made her first attempt outside the Billy Butlin races in 1960.  It ended in heartbreak.

Rosie had swum from England across the Channel for 21hrs 10mins.  Only 400 yards from the shore Rosie was accompanied by a dinghy with the main pilot boat stood offshore in deeper water, the observer and crew of the dinghy lost sight of the pilot boat in the dark.

They pulled Rosie from the water before she could step ashore, and then rowed nine miles into Calais harbour where they were apprehended by the French Police -   both the Dover and Calais lifeboats had been launched because she and the dingy had been reported missing.

Not detered, Rosie went on to make two successful crossings, one in 1961 in a time of 21hrs 35 mins, and again in 1967 in 17hrs 50mins, when she became the first British woman to do the more difficult crossing (so the experts tell us) from Calais to Dover.

Over the years the Serpentine Swimming Club has adopted many foreign Channel swimmers who used the Serpentine for training, including Father Robert Manning, a chaplain in the U.S Navy and another American Jon Ericson who, in 1981, became the first person to complete a Channel three-way crossing.  As with many others, Rosie's coaching inspired these swimmers to success.

In 2004 Rosie was honoured by the "International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame" in Florida, U.SA.