Race report by Eddie Ettie
Shell International Team members: Marion, Linda, Laura, Rod, Oli and Mark. 
The race started at exactly 15.30 on Sunday 18/7/2010, one day later than planned because of wind in the Channel. The afternoon was hot and sunny with light breezes. The forecast for the swim planned for 0430am Monday was good and all the Channel boats were waiting to get swims away.
Marion Wagner (Team Captain) and I had been talking often during the previous two weeks of absolutely perfect conditions and I was concerned the weather was due to turn. I had recommended Marion ask the team to start earlier to use the good conditions and not wait a week for the start date, but that was impossible as the team are all very busy professionals and work commitments gave little flexibility, so it was the planned time or never for the full team.
Run order handed to me, final photos taken and the first runner Rod was on his way. “Game on” . The team plan was to beat the existing record time set by BMF just two weeks earlier. The team knew that success depended partly on a strong run down to Dover, but more importantly the sea conditions in the Channel. The Shell team were stronger swimmers than BMF, so should get a faster swim crossing but if there is wind in the Channel swim crossings can be much slower.
Shell knew that the swim was where they had to make the anticipated loss on both the run and bike legs, nature would determine if that was possible so focused only on the run. The run changeovers went smoothly, all team members averaging between 7 or 8 mph to arrive in Dover 11:04:34 later around 02.30am. The team were delighted to be “only” an hour behind the BMF time.
The whole team were keen to get on the boat and away but had to wait, the tide in the Channel being such that there is no advantage “in fact you are disadvantaged” if you start too early. During the wait of about an hour the team occupied themselves preparing kit until the boat could be loaded. After loading and a quick final brief Paul Forman Skipper of Pace Arrow motored them round the coast to the swim start at Sanphire Hoe below Abbots Cliff. Swimmer 1, Oli wet suited was waiting the final instruction to jump from the back of the boat and swim to the shore to start the Channel crossing. The swim started at 04 07am on Tuesday 19th and because Team Shell had less wait time before the start of the swim they had already pulled back the time lost on the run.
After 6 hours and one swim each, team Shell was more than half way across the Channel with a possibility to finish in less than 11hours. The weather had held and the sea conditions were perfect, no one was sea sick, some team members had seen jelly fish but they were a few metres deep so all were keen to swim again to get across as soon as possible and make as much time as possible on the BMF time to give a bigger buffer on the bike. As is so often the case, the last few miles turned out to be the hardest and took probably 1 hour more than expected. The French coast was so very near but the tide was pushing the swimmers away from the nearest landing point “Cap Griz Nez”.
The tide building in strength was pushing the team down the coast and away from the point. This could mean up to two hours longer in the water if the swimmer in the water slackened the pace. With determination and the will to not let all the hard work be washed away “literally” swam and broke through before the last changeover. Oli the man chosen to start the swim had the pleasure to finish on the beach just left of the Cap Gris Nez to cheers in a very respectable time of 11:16 mins. Oli swam back immediately to the boat for the team to be motored into Calais, this took about 45 minutes and on top of that disembarkation and preparation gave a total time of 1:16. Team Shell were about two hours in front of the BMF time so still nothing certain as a lot can happen in 180 miles of cycling from Calais to Paris. All the team knew if they could ride the distance in under 14hours the record would belong to Shell International.
Marion and the team had deliberated much on the best sequence to put the riders and had finally decided that Mike start the bike to use his skill of climbing and descending taking on the ups and downs of the first leg. As with the previous two disciplines of the race the whole team gave 100% on their leg and supported each other during every changeover.
As the miles and night hours passed the city of Paris was getting nearer, the roads were quiet because of the time day so entry into the city was quite relaxed. The average speed into the city is always reduced as there are literally hundreds of traffic lights and lots of twists and turns. The Last cyclist was Laura who had the pleasure to ride the team up the Champs Elysees (fully rigged with seats and flags for the finish of the tour de France) up to the Arc de Triomphe to set a New Relay Record time of 37.15.30. A time I am sure will be hard to beat.
Well done to you all.
Eddie