Karteek Clarke

Karteek Clarke (born Alexander Clarke, 26 August 1966) is an English Channel swimmer and ultra distance runner from Edinburgh, Scotland.

Life
Clarke gained an MA Hons degree in psychology from the University of Edinburgh in 1989 and an LLB degree from the University of Glasgow in 2011. He has worked as an English teacher and as a freelance trainer in motivation and communications skills. Clarke credits studying meditation under Sri Chinmoy for the inspiration and encouragement to try and swim the channel. Karteek is an Indian spiritual name given by Sri Chinmoy and means "warrior".

He did not succeed on his first attempt at swimming the English Channel in 1994. But, since then, has become the first Scottish person to complete more than two crossings and has now completed 11 crossings, of the English Channel. Michael Oram, honorary secretary of the English Channel Swimming and Piloting Federation, said: "Very few people have swam the Channel more than ten times, and while Mr Clarke has his spiritual motivations, others are motivated by the challenge."