Beaurepaire trained in London for three months before the Games. Unable to afford admission to swimming pools, He was forced to train at Highgate Ponds, at temperatures of 10 °C. After a event in the River Thames prior to the Olympics he was numbed by the cold to such an extent that he collapsed and needed to be pulled from the water to avoid drowning. Later he won the British Championship at Bradford, defeating Henry Taylor of Lancashire, and then proceeded to win the event at Nottingham.