Swimming the Channel has been a dream of mine for many years, and the since 2010 I have been saying that I would swim the channel before I turned 50. In 2012 I completed the 6 hour qualifying swim and was working towards an individual swim in 2014 when my injury prone knee finally gave up.

In December 2014 I finally gave in and underwent a full knee replacement. I was a very impatient patient and struggled with how long everything seemed to take. 12 weeks later I went to the pool, and for the first time in my life I couldn't swim. I felt like I had a plank of wood attached to my leg, swimming actually hurt, and I struggled to negotiate the end of the pool. I got out and sat in the changing room and sobbed. Never at any point in my history of knee injuries and operations had I ever even contemplated not being able to swim.If I couldn't swim I just didn't know what I was going to do. At that point the dream of swimming the channel simply vanished.

I was devastated and it took me a long time to get over that, but I did eventually persevere and many months later have got back to a level of swimming I can cope with, even if it feels and looks completely different!

And then it finally came to me. I couldn't contemplate doing the swim alone yet, but why not do it as part of a relay team instead? The motivation of being part of a team would keep me going, both in training and in the actual swim.

The more I thought about the importance of motivation it became clear that I needed to do this for a charity. As I researched this I was drawn to Aspire. I have previously done Aspire swims such as swimming the distance of the channel in the pool over a 12 week period, so had a vague idea of what they did. What I didn't appreciate was what an formidable fundraising team they are, and how much achieve with the money raised through the swims.

I applied, went through a rigorous recruitment process, and was delighted to get selected  to be part of Team Barracuda on the August 2016 boat. 

The selection panel took place at Aspire's leisure centre in Stanmore, where we were surrounded by people who had benefited from the work done by Aspire. We met one such person, who had been a sub 3 hour marathon runner, but had been hit by a car whilst on a bike ride, and had a catastrophic injury to her spine. Aspire had helped her through her recovery, through the centre, therapists, equipment, and even providing temporary accommodation whilst she came to terms with what her life would now look like. By the end of that year she was a wheelchair athlete competing  in her first London Marathon. This was the final piece of motivation I needed to sign on the dotted line.

Team Barracuda will be a team of 6 each, under the guidance of our captain, Dirk. Dirk will be on board our boat, working with the skipper to keep us safe and moving in the right direction. 

Each of the 6 will be swimming for an hour at a time until we either reach France or fail in the attempt. The team will swim in strict order, and any swimmer failing to remain in the water for the full hour will result in the team failing. Only traditional swimsuits are allowed, no wetsuits or skins. We will have to deal with the changing tides, jelly dish, cross channel ferries, very cold water, and worse of all our own imaginations! My biggest challenge will be swimming in the dark if it comes to it, which is highly likely (2015 teams took between 10 and 18 hours) and dealing with sea sickness and cold for the 5 hours on board the boat in between swims. Before we even get to the start line we have to complete 3 training weekends in Dover acclimatising to the cold water and completing our qualifying swim of 2 hours in water under 15 degrees. (Most pools are kept at 27 degrees or warmer!)

Trust me this won't be a walk in the park! 

To keep me going I need the motivation of raising money for this amazing organisation, so I am asking you to donate what you can. All money raised will go direct to the charity, you are not paying for my costs in any way. 

Thank you for your kind donation and watch this space for updates!

With thanks and love,

Emma