KOLKATA: Fresh from successfully crossing the English Channel for the third time,

20/08/09

Sporty India Updated

KOLKATA: Fresh from successfully crossing the English Channel for the third time, Rashmi Sharma has her eyes firmly set on crossing the Channel both ways.
“I will probably need a couple of years to achieve my goal,” the 20-year-old fourth year engineering student said at a media conference on Wednesday.
“I am also interested in crossing other channels and straits. I need to gain a little more experience. Of the three successful attempts, the third one was more satisfying because the conditions were harder and more demanding.
“As I was approaching the French side, the current kept pulling me back into the sea. It took a great effort to touch the shore,” she said.
“The water temperature was between 14 and 15 degrees and the sea was rough when I began the swim from Dover. The weather too turned rough the previous night. However, I was determined to complete the course,” she recalled.
Rashmi first crossed the Channel in 2006 and repeated it the next year. Her attempt to cross it for the third time in 2008 failed owing to bad weather. She completed the third attempt on August 13 this year. She took 13 hours and 53 minutes to emerge the first Asian woman to cross the Channel thrice.