LONG-DISTANCE swimmer Beth French, from Milverton, is aiming to join an elite band when she tackles the Oceans Seven – a series of open water swims only completed by six people.

Moreover, she is taking on the channel swims, held all over the world, all in one year, beginning next September with the North Channel, the 22-mile crossing from Ireland to Scotland.

Beth, a single self-employed mum-of-one, is then taking on the 20-mile Catalina Channel in the USA, followed by a 26-mile swim across the Molokai Channel, Hawaii, known for its dense and large population of sharks.

Her challenge will then take her across the Cook Strait in New Zealand, the Strait of Gibraltar and the Tsugaru Strait off Japan. As she swims, Beth will highlight the environmental situation in these waters. “I am a bit of an eco warrior,” she added. “I am going to be looking at marine ecology. The nature of channel swimming is changing so much.”

Her challenge will finish in August 2017 with a swim across the English Channel, a feat she previously accomplished in July 2012.

Beth is taking her seven-year-old son Dylan with her on her adventure. He has Sensory Processing Disorder and is home-schooled, although, Beth said: “The disorder defines his life, it does not limit it.”

The Oceans Seven comes with a high financial cost. Beth added: “It is a challenge I am taking knowing that it comes with a £70,000 price tag and I am fronting all the deposits. It is £35,000 just for pilots and boats.”

For more information about Beth and her Oceans Seven challenge, visit bethfrench.co.uk