It’s just past 11 a.m. on a rainy, cold October morning when Ithaca College graduate student Miranda Wingfield begins her workout at the Athletics and Events Center. 

Her plan for the day is to keep it light and smooth — nothing too taxing — as Wingfield has a full afternoon of classes and work ahead of her. Just two months removed from conquering the English Channel, Wingfield is still in the pool doing what she loves. 

Training for the Channel 

Wingfield has been swimming since she was little, starting out as a novice and working her way up to the competition levels. She swam at Ithaca College on the varsity team for four years and she earned all-state honors in the mile and 500-yard freestyle.

When her collegiate career ended two years ago, Wingfield said she felt like she still had more in the tank. She had done a couple small open water races when she was younger, but nothing compared to the 21-mile course that was awaiting her in England.

“I feel like the English Channel is the ultimate swim challenge,” she said. “I was a distance swimmer and I really wanted to challenge myself and compete something that wasn’t in the pool.” 

Her training started off slow — about an hour in the pool every day. She had no team to push her anymore so she had to be disciplined and motivate herself to get to the pool. 

As the date got closer she increased her training and mixed in open-water workouts once it warmed up enough. Wingfield would swim for up to six hours in places like Cape Cod, the Connecticut River and Cayuga Lake. 

The Swim 

Wingfield and her support crew arrived in London on July 17. Four days later at 5 a.m. July 21, she set off in the murky waters at Abbot’s Cliff Beach.

“I thought everything was going to move a lot quicker and I was getting really nervous when I was standing on the beach,” Wingfield said. “As soon as I got in the water my mind went clear and I was able to just keep swimming.” 

She had to stop every half hour for “feeds,” and she said the first couple of hours went by fast. 

“It wasn’t until six-ish hours that I started to get really cold and wanted to be done as soon as possible,” she said. “In my head I was just like ‘I just need to make it to the next feed.’” 

Her crew was able to heat up her food and water to help her get a little warmer each feed. She finished the 21-mile swim in Calais, France in 11 hours, six minutes. 

“It was really hard to climb out on the rocks again at the end, but I did it and I felt a really great sense of accomplishment at the end,” she said. 

 Wingfield said she needs to wait until she graduates with her doctorate in May before she plans her next big race. The goal, she said, is to one day do a double crossing — to swim from England to France back to England. She still loves this sport, so she wants to just keep swimming for as long as she can and see where it takes her.