A GENUINE FEAT OF HUMAN FORTITUDE Sarah Thomas swims the channel 4 times non stop

An American breast cancer survivor has become the first person to swim the English Channel four times non-stop.
Sarah Thomas, 37, from Colorado, began the 130-mile challenge early on Sunday and finished at around 6.30am this morning, after more than 54 hours in the open water.

The ultra marathon swimmer, who underwent breast cancer treatment last year, dedicated her swim to "all the survivors out there".

Her support team said she "used the swimming as her means of coping with the treatment,” according to the BBC.

The swim was set at around 80 miles in length, but because of the tides Ms Thomas ended up swimming closer to 130 miles.

Only four swimmers had previously crossed the Channel three times without stopping, before Ms Thomas smashed the record with a fourth leg.

She celebrated making dry land at Dover, and entering the record books, with champagne and chocolates.
The healthcare recruiter completed her first open-water event in 2007 and first swam across the Channel in 2012.

On Saturday night, the eve of the swim, she admitted in a Facebook post that she was "scared" by the challenge.
"I've been waiting for this swim for over two years now and have fought so hard to get here,” she wrote.

"Am I 100 per cent? No. But I'm the best that I can be right now, with what I've been through, with more fire and fight than ever."

Before setting off for the UK to take on the monumental feat, Ms Thomas told the Financial Times: “Last October I found a lump in my breast.
“I was officially diagnosed with breast cancer in November. This time last year, I couldn’t swim and really wasn’t sure what was possible for my future.”
Olympic gold medalist rower Sir Matthew Pinsent was among those to pay tribute to Ms Thomas’s “fantastic endurance.”

He tweeted: “Begs the question - What have you/I been doing the last 50 hours? NOT swimming the Channel four times back to back to back to back!
“Brava Sarah Thomas.”

Fellow endurance swimmer and UN Ocean Advocate Lewis Pugh also praised the 37-year-old on Twitter, writing: “Extraordinary, amazing, super-human!!!
“Just when we think we’ve reached the limit of human endurance, someone shatters the records.
“Huge congratulations to Sarah Thomas on swimming the English Channel 4x continuously!!!

very well done her

Take a bow....Super human effort...Congratulations to her