Seven of Bude's Surf Life Savers are swimming the English Channel as part of a Relay team, in the hope to help raise awareness and funds for Talans Trust.

Gareth, Jayney, Mel, Graham, Jay, Scott and Zerran are taking on the epic challenge.

The team have been training hard throughout the winter and have had to pass numerous tests in order to qualify for the event. They are swimming the English channel, a total of 21 miles, as part of a relay team with each member swimming an hour at a time. The team have a 24 hour window to complete the 21 mile crossing. The event is set to take place in mid June (conditions depending). The biggest challenge isn't going to be the distance, its going to be completing the event in' skins' , that's swim costume & swim hat only!

The team have had to complete a qualifying swim in 'skins' in order to take part in the challenge. This involved swimming for 90 minutes in water below 16 degrees, to get out for an hour and then back in the water for another hour, and log the total distance that they swam.

The team have all successfully passed the qualifying and medicals and are training hard for the challenge.

As a team they have decided to do the swim in memory of Talan Penny. He was a much loved member of Bude Surf Life Saving Club, who sadly lost his battle to Rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare form of cancer. 'We want to raise awareness of childhood cancer and if we can, raise some money for Talans Trust, the charity set up in Talans name'.