The English Channel. The iconic 35 and a half km body of water separating Britain and mainland Europe. It’s the busiest shipping lane in the world; prone to dangerous swells and treacherous weather conditions. You can sail it, fly over it, and even catch a train under it, but only a handful of hardy souls have attempted to pedal across! The Guinness World Record stands at 6 hours and 39 minutes and endurance cyclist Jon Shubert and triathlete Mark Threlfall have it firmly in their sights. Their training schedules are in place and a crack team of engineers at Oxford Brookes University has built them a kayak/tandem craft that they hope could just be a record breaker. Can pedal power conquer The English Channel’s mighty waves?

• Documentary