Meet Neil Gilson, the 40-year-old former international swimmer from Devon who has completed an extraordinary endurance challenge, swimming across Switzerland’s 10 largest lakes over two summers. Together, the crossings covered about 230 miles (370km), culminating in a gruelling 45-mile swim across Lac Léman, also known as Lake Geneva, that lasted just over 22 hours. Gilson’s achievement, known as the Legend of the Lakes challenge, marks the first time anyone has completed the feat. His final swim was particularly emotional, with his children, Lily and Jack, joining him for the last 200 metres. But Gilson’s story is about more than endurance swimming. He began the challenge partly to raise awareness of PANS and PANDAS, conditions that affected his son Jack as a young child.
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