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I have undertaken many fundraising events in my time but this is by far the most challenging and extreme.
At 1.03am on Tuesday 8 September 'Team Aspire' splashed into the English Channel to commence their swimming journey to France. We always think of the Channel Swim as being 22 miles but what no-one ever tells you is that it's impossible to swim it in a straight line. The total distance swam by the team was an amazing 47 miles! We didn't know that we would have to swim that distance when we started.
The initial shock as you plunge into the freezing cold water, fighting to catch your breath, never really leaves you. As soon as you start swimming you're just thinking about surviving as you battle the disorientation of the dark, the sea sickness from the swell of the waves not to mention the amount of unwelcome water you swallow as you try to take in some air. Swimming in the daylight was much better and almost pleasurable. We were accompanied at one point by a couple of dolphins but they soon left as I don't think they were interested in landing on a beach in France.
We were very grateful for the skills of our Pilot on the boat Anastasia. When asked how difficult it was to get us across the Channel he said, "It is like navigating a pushchair across a double six lane motorway". The size of some of the tankers really did make us feel incredibly small and made for some great photographs.
Every member of the team played their part and offered each other encouragement, support and much needed mothering when you got out of the water. The team were just brilliant! 14 hours and 27 minutes, 47 miles and two members of the team were on a French beach.
Four people incur a spinal injury every day. Aspire's work is essential in providing practical support to ensure a spinally injured person can return to a fulfilled and independent life. Some of Aspire's work is in providing accessible housing, IT adaptations and training and a grant giving fund. A typical grant can provide someone with a lightweight wheelchair and greater independence. The cost of such a wheelchair is approximately £2,500 and I hope you will help me in raising this amount of money to make a real difference to somone's life.
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