Updated on Jul 26th 2011 at 11:26 PM from the JustGiving API

Actually updated target to £1500 because, why not? I've raised a fantastic amount of money and I'll be so proud, however much I raise. So thank you for taking the time to visit my page and sponsoring me if you have. If not, please can you? Any amount is great and I really appreciate it :-)

Updated on Jul 15th 2011 at 11:31 AM from the JustGiving API

While I am toning down the fundraising a little, I have upped my target to £1250. So please can you sponsor me if you haven't already? Thank you x

Updated on Jul 11th 2011 at 10:53 PM from the JustGiving API

So i've reached my £1000 target and I'm going to have a bit of a break now and concentrate on the swimming. However I am still grateful for any donations as I'd love to raise as much as possible for this wonderful charity which is so close to my heart.

Update 8/7/11 So I've now reached my target. Thank you so much to everyone who has supported me so far. So now I've uped my target. It's not by much- only £80, but £1000 seems the next big milestone.

Update 29/6/11 I'm nearly 90% of the way there!!! And I've done over 20% of the swimming. Thank you so much to everyone who's supported me. 

Read in more detail about how I've been doing at http://justkeepswimming-alexmccourt.blogspot.com/

Update 14/6/11: I've passed £500!! Thank you to everyone who has supported me over the last two weeks. But I still have over £400 to go, so if you haven't already (or if you can afford a bit more than you've already given), please will you sponsor me? Thank you :-)

Update 12/6/11: I'm nearly 10 days into my challenge and it's starting to take its toll. It's blooming exhausting! But I can feel myself getting fitter, and I'm swimming more at once than I could do when I first started. I've nearly reached £500, which is fantastic, so thank you to everyone who has donated so far, and to all those who haven't sponsored me yet, please could you? TAG is a charity that it really close to my heart, so I'd love to raise the full amount for them. Thank you.

Also thank you to everyone who has spread the word about what I'm doing, be it the people handing out business cards, those who share the links on social networks, and the press who run my story in their papers :-)

Don't forget to keep up with how I'm doing in more detail via my blog: http://justkeepswimming-alexmccourt.blogspot.com/

So, after my success of swimming the length of the channel last year, I have decided that this summer I shall swim 230.15km (143miles). I'll be doing this over the period of the whole summer, and I'll be doing 2.5km a day. Trying to do the whole distance at once would take me about 3 days straight, and I think I would die!

The distance is what it is for two reasons. The first is that there are 230 moveable or semi-moveable joints in the average human body, and Arthrogryposis is a condition which affects the joints. Secondly, 230.15km is the length of the River Great Ouse, the longest river in East Anglia, which is where I'm from (explaining the odd 150m on the end!). This means I'll be doing two and a half kilometres a day from the 4th June until the end of September when I go back to university. 

Like last year, I wont actually be swimming in the open water- I have a bit of a fear of fish!

I shall be raising money for The Arthrogryposis Group, the charity that helps people with my boyfriend Hugh's disability.

Please, please sponsor me! 9206 lengths is a lot!
You can keep up with how I'm doing at http://justkeepswimming-alexmccourt.blogspot.com/ I'm trying to update it every day (and so far i've suceeded!). I'll be adding pictures and whatever else I can think of as everything develops. Any suggestions and comments would be greatly appreciated :-)

You can also email me at justkeepswimming-alexmccourt@hotmail.co.uk.

If you're a UK taxpayer please add Gift Aid to your donation. It costs you nothing and it's an extra 28.2%, or something like that, to the charity.

I am also accepting donations in the traditional way, if you'd rather not do it online. Just let me know (and give me money/post a cheque of course- you don't get away without coughing up!), and I'll add it to my offline total.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my page and to read this, and thank you especially if you've sponsored me :-) Alex x

A couple of people have told me that there is a problem with donating via justgiving. If you do want to sponsor me and it's not working, we can do it the old-school way. Either give me the money when you see me, or email me at: justkeepswimming-alexmccourt@hotmail.co.uk and I'll send you my address to post a cheque to. You could also contact justgiving (http://justgiving.zendesk.com/anonymous_requests/new) and they can try to help you. Thank you :-)

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