Friends, relatives, work colleagues and other vastly wealthy people It is my pleasure to inform you that myself and Ed Hackett will be swimming the English Channel at the end of September 09. We have stuck our stake in the ground with this Justgiving page and are preparing ourselves to live by the motto "when the going gets tough the sprinters get out". Fortunately, neither Ed nor myself have ever been referred to as sprinters and, as front-row players, we feel that we have the ideal mixture of raw physical strength, Dallaglio-esque determination and the ability to not really think things through very much; we are, therefore, ideally placed to take on something of this magnitude. We will swim without wetsuits in order to register an official Channel Swim time and thereby entering our names in the annals of history - a feat that only 625 men have ever achieved before us (as of 2007). The crossing will be between 35k as the crow flies and 45k depending on how much we get shoved about by the tides or if we get caught on the side of a passing tanker; and the water will be somewhere in the region of 15 - 18 degrees ... believe me, with only a pair of Speedo Juniors, a very fetching swim cap and about 5lbs of goose fat as protection this is REALLY cold and may significantly affect our future reproductive potential. Some may say this is no bad thing, but as well as raising money for a fantastic charity, we would also like to brag to our future children about the achievement. Genital shrinkage forms the basis of most of our gravest concerns for the attempt. We have chosen to raise money for Help for Heroes because we both believe passionately that those that put their lives on the line to protect ours should be rewarded with practical help and support. As individuals we are powerless to prevent war in itself and are unable to stop our men and women from being killed and wounded. By joining together as Help for Heroes, we are doing something practical to help; we are doing our bit. We are committed to completing this challenge to satisfy our desire to help this country's heroes as well as achieving our personal ambitions. Ed, especially, has been training with a psychotic zeal that one would usually associate with successful 3rd world despots, wig-wearing televangelists or Newcastle United supporters - and has already dropped around 3st in weight (worthy of a hefty donation in itself some might say!). We ask you all to donate what you can to this fantastic charity to make yourself feel good inside the next time you see a news report, or open a newspaper that features our Armed Forces. You will be making a very real difference to the lives of some incredibly brave and proud people. You might also inspire 2 fatboys to splash and wheeze their way from England to France and achieve something great of their own. Many thanks DJ and Ed