Second year Economics student Alison Longman recently completed a 21 mile cross channel swim, raising £10,500 for charity.

Alison set off from Samphire Hoe near Dover at 3.23am on 3 August 2010. She arrived in France at Cap Gris Nez just 11 hours and nine minutes later.

Alison undertook the marathon swim to raise money for the British Heart Foundation and Make a Wish Foundation.

She completed her swim just a few weeks ahead of University of Warwick sociologist Dr Karen Throsby, who managed to reach France on 2 September 2010 in 16 hours and nine minutes.

Alison, who has been swimming since she was a young child, trained for the cross channel swim for a year. She said the whole journey had been one of the best and the worst things she had ever done.

She said: "It has involved a lot of battles with my own demons and an awful lot of support from those closest to me. I may have completed a solo channel swim but I am aware more than ever that this was a team effort and left on my own it certainly would not have been so successful."

She added: "I'm really looking forward to continuing my swimming next year at Warwick as women's swimming captain. In this role I will be able to use my experience to coach others and encourage more people to take up and enjoy swimming as I do."

• More on Alison's swim

• More on Dr Karen Throsby’s swim