My name is Amber Keegan. I'm a British open-water swimmer, final year PhD student, and director of a not-for-profit organisation.

I've had a bumpy swimming career (to say the least!), making European Juniors back in 2013, and winning a silver medal in 400 Individual Medley was a great junior career... but after that, I hit a LOT of speed bumps! I was repeatedly ill and injured - I tore my hamstring, got tendonosis in my shoulder, struggled with an eating disorder, and got hit by a Range Rover... needless to say, the odds were not in my favour on making it through to senior swimming.

But 10 years of hard work after making my first junior team... I made a senior GBR team in the 10 km (marathon) swim! The most incredible team at City of Sheffield Swim Squad got me healthy again. I placed 18th, less than 4 months after swimming my first ever 10 km. I also became the 4th fastest GBR woman ever last year in the short course 1500m freestyle. This year, I raced at the 2024 World Champs, where I aimed to qualify for Paris 2024 Olympic Games. I had a shocker in the second half of the race. It happens to us all on the occasional day, it just sucked that for me it was on my only day of Olympic qualification (no excuses, c'est la vie!!).

I was heartbroken, but also so proud to have made it as far as I did... and with all of the training behind me, I didn't want to stop swimming there. So I went in search of a bigger challenge... and the 34 km swim from England to France is certainly bigger!!! It's cold, it's a busy shipping lane, there are jellyfish... it's HARD. I'll hopefully be swimming for around 8 hours, but I'm at nature's mercy - it could be shorter, or much longer! Almost 4 x more people have summited Everest than successfully swam the English Channel! I'm terrified and excited!

My first ocean channel attempt was Rottnest (Feb 2024), which unfortunately got called off due to the conditions when I was 17 km through the 19.7 km swim! But it gave me a chance to "test the waters" of ocean swimming... and although it was the most brutal thing I'd ever done, I loved it! I was also the furthest woman across when this event was called off. I recently swam the Strait of Gibraltar (from Spain to Morocco!!) in preparation for this English Channel attempt.

As much as it pains me, I'm asking for financial help to complete this channel attempt. I've self-funded my swimming career for almost a decade, juggling working multiple jobs alongside my degree and now a PhD and swimming. Even when making World Championship teams, I received no funding. Self-funding swimming costs me a minimum of £6K annually. The Channel?? That's going to cost me over £8K in itself!! I've managed to work for most of this, but some extra support to make up the final bit would be incredibly appreciated.

Hence, for the first time, I'm asking for help. I'm also going to be fundraising for a charity (charity TBC soon) so if you would rather, please do save your money for them over me! I'll set up a separate JustGiving for them, because I want people to have complete transparency on where their money is going.

If you're a business owner, or are interested in a more formal partnership, please contact me at amber.keegan.97@gmail.com. I've got experience speaking/presenting, writing, mentoring and more!

My experiences have shown me both the good and bad side of sports, and want more women to leave sport having experienced the positive, with less of the negative. It would be remiss of me not to mention the not-for-profit organisation that I direct, which focuses on decreasing stigma and increasing support for women and girls in sport with their mental health, Athlete Interactions.

Approximate costings for English Channel activities (hence this fundraiser!): £2K practice swim in Gibraltar, £1500 management (organisation of the logistics, swim, support on the boat etc), £3.5K pilot for the channel, £600 registration and ratification fees, £500 medical checks, £100 channel-related nutrition, £200 Dover accomodation.