On the 4th Oct '08 at the Wycombe Sports Centre, I'm going to attempt to swim 1 mile on the hour, every hour, for 24 consecutive hours...

Apparently I'll be using between 8000 and 11500 calories each, equivalent to 15 roast dinners,  so sustaining food and drink intake and keeping it down is going to be a further challenge along with staying awake through the night and getting back in the pool again and again... and again. Still, I should lose about 5lb.

With each individual person in our team is swimming further than the English Channel, we're also hoping that during this mammoth challenge we claim ourselves a new world record - that of 'covering the most miles by a team in any one 24 hour period' - 576 miles if all 24 of us finish.

The guys taking part range in ability from some of the best long-distance and open-water swimmers in the UK, to world champion Masters swimmers, to ironman triathletes, to those to whom just a few months ago swimming a mile would have caused serious difficulty (guess which group I'm in...). 

THE EVENT:

Saturday 4th October 2008

Starting at 9am for 24 hours.

High Wycombe Sports Centre

Marlow Hill
High Wycombe
Bucks
HP11 1TJ
United Kingdom
 

WHY AM I DOING THIS?

Stewart Rush, who is organising the event, has a young son who was diagnosed last year with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a genetic disorder caused by an error in the dystrophin gene. The condition causes progressive muscle weakness as the muscle cells break down and die.

About 100 boys are born with the condition in the UK each year and there are about 1,500 boys with the disorder living in the country at any one time.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy, named after the doctor who first studied this specific condition in the 1800s, mainly affects boys, with extremely rare exceptions.

Most affected boys show the first symptoms when they are aged between one and three. The features include:

* being unable to run or jump as well as their peers
* a difficulty climbing stairs
* a difficulty getting up from the floor

As they get older and the condition progresses they may be unable to walk as far or as fast as other children, occasionally even falling down. Some boys may also have learning and/or behavioural difficulties which start to show at this stage.

WHY ACTION DUCHENNE?

Action Duchenne (Formerly PPUK) exclusively funds research for a cure and promotes campaigns for better medical care for Duchenne and Becker Muscular Dystrophy. Duchenne is so severe that young men are totally paralysed by late teens and die young from respiratory or heart failure.

If you can spare any donation for this, I'd be very grateful.

Many thanks,

Simon