The Big Swim

On the rain-soaked beach at Cap Gris Nez one night last week, 24 grease-plastered men & women waded into the English Channel and struck out for England. By next night, when the last competitor was pulled exhausted from the water, a world's record had been broken, seven men and two women had succeeded in swimming all the way to Dover beach.

Those who shared in the glory and in the London Daily Mail's -L-4,000 purse:

P:Hassan Abd el Rahim, 42, burly, fat-padded Egyptian army lieutenant, who refreshed himself mid-Channel with five cups of tea and coffee, two cheese sandwiches, a pear and a pound of honey. No. 2 in the race almost to the end, he sprinted the last few hundred yards, clambered ashore the winner in the record-breaking time of 10 hours 53 minutes./- "Allah, Allah, a record!" he shouted.

P: Roger Le Morvan, 26-year-old Parisian electrician, who had had former Record Holder Georges Michel as his trainer, had refreshed himself en route with glucose and champagne. Tiring in the last minutes, he could not match Abd el Rahim's sprint, climbed onto the beach just ten minutes after the Egyptian.

P: Mara'i Hassan Hamad, 41, an Egyptian army warrant officer, who, like Winner Abd el Rahim, had faithfully observed five prayer periods a day, trained on a diet of sesame oil, sweets and nuts.

P: Sam Rockett, 31, a well-upholstered (238 Ibs.) Britisher, who boasted: "I could have done it in two and a half hours less if I hadn't been stuck in the tide."

P: William Barnie, 54, Scottish science teacher, who wore a prig of white heather in his bathing cap for luck, boasted: "I'm the oldest man ever to swim the Channel, and the first Scotsman to do so."

P: Eileen Fenton, 22, a 112-lb. Yorkshire schoolteacher who, despite a strained shoulder, crossed in 15 hours 31 minutes (no record), crawled out of the water on her hands and knees to claim the -L-1,000 purse for women.

P: Jason Zirganos, 40, Greek army major, decorated by King Paul last year for being the first Greek ever to swim the Channel, who beat his 1949 time by more than two hours.

P: Antonio Albertondo, 31, an Argentine brewery clerk.

P: Jenny Kommersgaard, 31, a Danish factory worker.

The 15 swimmers who didn't make it had plenty of excuses. Egyptian Fahmy Attallah was put off by 6-in. practice shells from an English shore battery which kept plopping into the water ahead of him. Panagiotis Kamberos of Greece was disqualified when his trainers yanked him into the boat out of the jaws of a shark. "Papa" Eduard Mussche, 63, the oldest competitor, got lost in the Channel, had a mackerel tickle his stomach, finally sighted a boat and climbed in.

Wanda Boutagy, 21-year-old Israeli, whose father tried to get her to quit by shouting "A hundred sharks are following you," was finally dragged into her boat by force. Snapped disappointed Wanda: "I have never felt better in my life. Do not say I have failed. Twelve people pulled me into the boat. I am very angry."

/-The old record of 11 hours 5 minutes was set by Frenchman Georges Michel in 1926.

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