Chun Kong Mak has announced that he will attempt to swim across the English Channel this October, hoping to become the first Hongkonger to complete this epic challenge in open water swimming.

He currently lives in Brno, Czechia. He is an experienced long-distance swimmer and ice swimmer, the only ice swimmer from Hong Kong with his first ice mile in 2019, and his second this year in butterfly. He and 3 other Czech swimmers crossed Loch Ness as a relay team last year. He also does dozens of long distance marathon swimming races in Czechia every year recently. He is definitely ready for the challenge.

He will participate in a training camp called HITtheWALL in Ireland in May, which will lead him up to an 8-hour swim in 12 – 14°C water in order to qualify for the channel attempt (the entry requirement is to have a 6-hour swim done below 15.5°C between 18 months and 2 weeks before the channel crossing). In the summer, he will do a lot of 5 – 20 km races to prepare him for the distance.

He has opened a fundraising page for his challenge. I sincerely hope for his success in October making history for Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, I have already booked a slot in September 2021 for a solo crossing attempt. Before he announced his attempt openly, I kept this fact only to the swimming and triathlon community. I am not as experienced as him, and still need time to build up myself physically in order to swim the channel. My plan is to go a working holiday in 2021 after the world championship in trail orienteering this year in Hong Kong is done, and build up myself over summer 2021 for the challenge while I’m staying in Europe on a working holiday.