Philip Rush (New Zealand - born 6 November 1963) is a firefighter and long distance swimmer who is the current world record holder for the fastest two and three way swim of the English Channel which he completed in 1987 in a time of 28 h 21 mins (he completed the two way in a time of 16 h 10 mins)[1]
Biography
(1st leg - 7 h 55 mins, 2nd leg - 8 h 15 mins, 3rd leg - 12h 11 mins)
To date only three other people have completed a three way channel swim. Jon Erikson in 1981, Alison Streeter in 1990 and Chloe McCardel in 2015.
Philip also completed a two way swim of the English Channel in 1985 in a time of 17 h 56 mins.[2]
Amongst Philip's other achievement include swimming the English Channel 10 times, the Cook Strait 8 times, including one of only two people to complete a Double Crossing, a feat he achieved on 13 Mar 1984 in a time of 16 h 16 mins and repeated on 9 Feb 1988 in a time of 18 h 37 mins.[3]
Philip also became the first person to complete a double crossing of New Zealand's Lake Taupō (40.2 km) which he completed on 14–15 January 1985. He also holds the time record of 10 h 14 mins set on 10 March 1985.[4]
In June 2000 Philip was invited to take part in carrying the Olympic torch through Wellington, New Zealand.[5]
Philip retired from swimming in 1990 and now coaches, and enjoys preparing swimmers to tackle the Cook Strait.