Eileen Fenton

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Eileen Fenton
Personal information
Born1928 (age 95–96)
Dewsbury, Great Britain
Sport
SportSwimming

Eileen Fenton (born 1928) was the first woman to swim the English Channel, accomplishing the feat on 26 September 1950.[1] Fenton completed the swim as a competitor in the First Daily Mail Channel Race. There were 24 competitors in the race and less than half of these finished.[1] She finished in a time of 15hrs 31mins, and received a winner's cheque of £1000.[2]

In 2019, she received an MBE in the Queen's Birthday honours for voluntary service to Long Distance and Competitive Swimming Coaching in Yorkshire and Great Britain.[3]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Eileen Fenton celebrates 70th anniversary of swimming the English Channel". ITV News. 2020-08-21. Retrieved 2021-11-09.
  2. ^ "Fenton, Eileen". Channel Swimming Dover. Retrieved 2021-11-09.
  3. ^ "'Inspirational' woman from Dewsbury highlighted by Duke and Duchess of Cambridge". www.yorkshirepost.co.uk. Retrieved 2021-11-09.