Driven by a desire to help this charity, and experience open water swimming (without a wetsuit) in the crossing of the English Channel, I will be part of a 5 person team called "The Golden Tridents".  We will be one of four teams, of five or six people, who will navigate the 22.5 mile stretch as a relay, in an effort to raise vital funds for this national lifesaving charity.  

And, this, 146 years after Captain Matthew Webb became the first person to complete the swim from Dover to Calais.  If successful, all of us swimmers, will become part of a worldwide family of people who have 'conquered' the famed stretch of water, home to the worlds busiest shipping lanes, but more than that, we will be helping to keep families together through specifically supporting the critical work of the Children's Air Ambulance.  

Air Ambulance services receive very little, if any, Government funding.  Children's Air Ambulance have to rely on our charitable donations in order to transfer critically ill children, and specialist teams and equipment, to local hospitals when a child is too sick to travel.  Since 2011, around 400 children have been transferred by Air Ambulance, and this is anticipated to rise to 600 children every year, with the launch of new helicopters soon.

This year, I have been doing more open water swimming training in the sea than ever before, and I am still learning to cope with the cold water, and getting out/trying to warm up, swallowing salty water, overcoming the fear of deep, and dirty, water and sea creatures (such as jellyfish), tides and the swell and the chop of waves that can sometimes literally send you backwards by a slap in the face.  I have also discovered some of the health and wellbeing benefits to this quite extreme sporting activity, and this October challenge will be the culmination of my efforts which I hope will lead to an even bigger challenge next year.