Christine Bleakley Successfully Waterskis Across English Channel
One Show presenter, Christine Bleakley saw victory yesterday as she attempted to waterski across the English Channel. The TV presenter faced choppy seas and harsh winds in the -4C water taking a plunge eight times into the icy channel.
Bleakley completed the entire 22 mile journey in 100 minutes for Sport Relief. After completing the cross, the BBC presenter spoke out with tears of joy and relief, saying that she could not believe she was successful, and that it was tough and exhausting. Bleakley also thanked those who came out to support her.
The TV host’s footballer boyfriend, Frank Lampard, was not on hand to witness the One Show presenter make it across the Channel, however, co-host Adrian Chiles was there cheering loudly from a neighbouring boat.
The English Channel is one of the world’s most trafficked shipping lanes and Bleakley was forced to sit in the freezing water at one point to allow a large tanker to go by. She left England from Kent at Dover at 7:45 in the morning and arrived at 9:25 on French soil.
The proceeds of Bleakley’s waterski crossing will go towards combating the HIV epidemic in children in Uganda, where she visited on a trip with Comic Relief back in 2008. Bleakley says of her time there that seeing people live like that put her own problems back at home into a better perspective.