Ross Edgley is a British adventurer, athlete and author, born in Grantham in 1985, who in 2018 became the first person to swim around Great Britain. The Great British Swim took 157 days and about 1,780 miles, and he did not set foot on land for the whole of it. His other challenges include running a marathon while pulling a car and climbing the height of Everest on a rope.
Brian Rose has interviewed Edgley three times on London Real, in 2016 and twice in 2018. They have talked about why he takes on extreme challenges, the mental side of endurance, what defeat teaches you and, days after he finished, the full story of the Great British Swim.
His books include The World’s Fittest Book and The Art of Resilience. Each interview is listed below in order.
The Great British Swim (2018). Recorded days after he finished, it is the full story of the 157-day swim: the planning, the injuries and the mindset that got him round.
Speaking in April 2018, Edgley said the hardest part of extreme events is mental. He described the mind games he uses to keep going when his body wants to stop.
He told Brian Rose what defeat has taught him, and why falling short is part of finding out what your body and mind can really do.
In November 2018 he described the physical toll of the swim, from jellyfish stings to months of salt water, and said a strong support team and staying positive were what got him through.
Edgley is known for testing his body in odd ways, such as pulling a car for a marathon distance or climbing a rope for the height of Everest, to learn what it can adapt to.
Ross Edgley is a British adventurer, athlete and author, born in Grantham in 1985. He is best known for becoming the first person to swim around Great Britain, in 2018.
The swim took 157 days, from June to November 2018, and covered about 1,780 miles. He did not set foot on land for the whole swim, sleeping on a support boat.
He talked about why he takes on extreme challenges, the mental side of endurance, what defeat teaches you and, in a two-hour interview recorded days after he finished, the full story of the Great British Swim.
Start with The Great British Swim from November 2018. Watch World’s Fittest Strongman from earlier that year for his thinking before the swim.
Three times: Athlete Adventurer in 2016, World’s Fittest Strongman in April 2018 and The Great British Swim in November 2018.
The Art of Resilience, published in 2020, tells the story of the Great British Swim and sets out the lessons on mental and physical resilience that Edgley took from it.
Official site: rossedgley.com
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