It began as a personal goal for Lim Chee Kiong. Soon, three other friends were roped in to conquer what many call the Everest of open water swimming. On 21 July 2023, Lim and his friends Ng Chee Soon, Mark Tan, and Alvin Tam became the first Singaporean relay team to successfully swim across the English Channel. Ng even became the oldest Singaporean to have done so.

The team took less than 12 hours to complete their feat, but preparations for their expedition started three years earlier in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. What did it take to train for the long and cold swim in tropical Singapore? How did they get ready themselves for swimming in the open waters in temperatures as low as 15 degrees Celsius?