Ashleigh Webb has become the first female Canberran to swim the English Channel solo—and she raised $25,000 in the process
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13 hours and 47 minutes—that’s how long it took the first female Canberran to complete her 33km solo crossing of the English Channel on 12 June of this year.
It was a challenge of a lifetime.
Originally tackling the crossing in October 2022 to raise funding for the inaugural Kallan Lodge Library at John Hunter Hospital’s Nexus Unit in Newcastle—training for 18 months in the murky waters of Lake Burley Griffin—Ashleigh Webb was unable to complete her first attempt at the dangerous swim.
Heading in (inspired by Ben Freeman and Kane Orr, the two Canberrans that swam before her), Ashleigh knew that it would require more grit and determination than anything she’s done before. When she had to pull out less than five hours in, she was devastated.
“After launching the charity, all the fundraising, eighteen months of training, and extended leave from work—it was a total failure! I hopped in the water under the Cliffs of Dover at 0130 hrs on 12 October. Within an hour or so I’d vomited so much my rib began to separate from the cartilage in my chest,” she says.
“The swim had to be abandoned less than five hours in. That’s half the distance of the qualifying swims I did to prepare. I was devastated. To rally and come back just eight months later and make it to France successfully was a humbling and soul-satisfying experience.”
Dedicated to honouring her close friend Kallan—who died by suicide in Canberra at the age of 21—the founder and CEO of the Kallan Lodge Library says when she finally crossed the finish line, she wanted to saviour the celebratory moment but all she felt was relief.
She had finally done it—and she had raised $25,000 in the process to help young people living with clinical depression, something she has battled for most of her life.
“I was standing at the base of a French cliff alone at sunset—a stunning way to finish a monotonous, foggy, and jellyfish-filled swim. I was exhausted and dopey because the water was 14 degrees for the entire 13 hours of my swim,” says Ashleigh.
“I stood onshore for about three minutes, grabbed some souvenir rocks to take home, and then made my way back to the boat. I really needed a nap.”
Founding the Kallan Lodge Library in 2022 to spark a national conversation about mental wellbeing maintenance, the Newcastle-based library is a comprehensive database of literature and music that’s designed to bring patients comfort and joy during mental health treatment.
Partnering with mental health facilities like the John Hunter Hospital NEXUS Unit (an inpatient unit for children five-to-17 years old with mental health problems), the Kallan Lodge Library works with staff who are seeking to recommend books and music to patients.
According to Ashleigh, the response to the library and its services has been incredibly rewarding.
“It’s heartwarming to see young people light up when you go into a ward and tell them the books and vinyl are just for them, for no other reason than you think they may enjoy them,” she says.
“I think it helps when they realise I was one of them sixteen years ago, and life is looking pretty great now. Things can work out amongst the struggles. It doesn’t have to be one or the other.”
Now in the process of placing another library in the adolescent ward at Canberra Hospital, the 33-year-old says that conversations around mental health are still evolving, but acceptance still hasn’t been achieved—which is why she will help to keep fighting the stigma people with mental illness face.
“Kallan and I grew up in Newcastle, but we became grown-ups in Canberra. It was in this city that I had to figure out how to live well, not just cycle between depressive episodes. Kallan didn’t survive and I hope Canberrans recognise how many people we lose to suicide, every day,” she says.
“We need to think about how to foster well-being in young people, empowering them to find their own ways to self-soothe without causing harm. Books and vinyl records are the Kallan Lodge Library’s contribution to this community responsibility because that’s what Kallan and I bonded over. If we can help one young person feel a little better for a little while, we’ve succeeded.”
You can donate to the Kallan Lodge Library here.
