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Walliams and Cracknell complete Sport Relief Gibraltar swim

07/03/2008

David Walliams and James Cracknell have completed their charity swim across the Strait of Gibraltar for Sport Relief.

The Little Britain actor and Olympic rower took four hours, 36 minutes to complete the 12-mile trip between Tarifa in Spain and Morocco's Punta de Cires.

Walliams famously swam the English Channel for Sport Relief in 2006, but has now equalled the feat and the £1 million he raised for charity two years on.

Speaking to BBC News 24 shortly after arriving in north Africa, the comic actor admitted he had been physically sick during the swim, but an encounter with a pod of whales had spurred him on.

"Swimming and throwing up, it shouldn't really go together," he said.

"It was really tough."

For two-time Olympic gold medallist Cracknell, the swim represented the final part of his Cross-Continent Challenge.

Prior to swimming between Europe and Africa, he had rowed across the English Channel and cycled more than 1,300 miles through France and Spain.

"The swim went much better than either David and I anticipated," he said from Punta de Cires

"It even gave me one of the best moments of the challenge so far when four pilot whales swam around us - an absolutely amazing sight.

"I'm so lucky to get the opportunity to do these things."