The Belly Flops are a relay team comprising of Nick Glendinning, John Offenbach, Tom Merilion and Mike Bond. Sometime around the neap tide on August 26th we'll be attempting to swim across the English Channel. Something fewer people have done than climb Mt.Everest. We will swim across one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. The two lanes going east and west have tankers loaded with cargo of all sorts. They're are crossed by lines of ferries and hovercraft heading north and south. It will be cold too, 16 degrees centigrade of sea, swell and swill. Wetsuits are not allowed, although in that curiously English way we'll be able to smother ourselves in goose fat. We'll set out from Shakespeare's Cliff near Dover, and hope to reach Cap Griz Nez around 35 Kilometers and 15 hours later. In January this year John Offenbach's youngest son was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. A virus has effectively killed off his pancreas. The cells inside which normally produce insulin no longer do, and Joe, who is four years old, has to inject insulin three times a day, and prick his finger to take a blood test four or more times a day. As it stands he'll have to do this for the rest of his life. But the future is promising. With funding, research being carried out right now may actually find a cure for diabetes within the next ten years. The Belly Flops will raising money for Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund. So please as usual, donate as generously as you can. We all thank you very much. Nick Glendinning, John Offenbach, Tom Merilion, Mike Bond. See our training day on the 'My Video' link opposite.