- Who
- Andrew Keay
- What
- 61:71 year(s):day(s)
- Where
- United Kingdom (Glenthorne)
- When
The oldest male to achieve the Original Triple Crown of open-water swimming is Andrew Keay (Australia, b. 28 June 1962), who was aged 61 years 71 days when he successfully swam across the Bristol Channel from Porthcawl, Mid Glamorgan (south Wales) to Glenthorne, Devon, UK, on 7 September 2023. The total swim time was 14 hours 27 minutes 5 seconds and he was observed by Stephen Butler on board the vessel Cobra. Keay had previously swam the English Channel between England and France (15 hours 10 minutes) on 23 July 2019 and the North Channel between Northern Ireland and Scotland (14 hours 30 minutes 12 seconds) on 10 July 2022.
The oldest female (and person overall) to complete the Original Triple Crown to date is Pat Gallant-Charette (USA, b. 2 February 1951), who swam her final leg from Porthcawl, Mid Glamorgan, to west of Glenthorne, Devon, on 19 September 2022, aged 71 years 229 days.
The first person to complete the Original Triple Crown of open-water swimming was Kevin Murphy (UK) in 1971: he swam the English Channel on 15 August 1968 (15 hours 55 minutes), the North Channel on 11 September 1970 (11 hours 21 minutes) and the Bristol Channel on 14 July 1971 (13 hours 54 minutes) - a cumulative time of 41 hours 10 minutes.
The modern Triple Crown of open-water swimming also includes the English Channel as one of its three required crossings, but the other two routes are located in the USA: the Catalina Channel between Santa Catalina Island and mainland California and a circumnavigation swim of Manhattan Island in New York.
