On Sunday, members and friends of the Rotary Club of Consett are challenging themselves to swim the length of the English Channel at Consett Leisure Centre to raise money for Willow Burn Hospice and our friends at Macmillan Cancer Support.
So why the channel?
During 2021 a Consett Rotarian was in training to swim the English Channel, alone, progress was going well having racked up a few 10 mile swims.
A slot had been booked with the Channel Swim Association for August 2023.
As part of training for the event in 2022, it was noted that that instead of improving, swim times were getting slower and slower. July 2022 came and a hospital visit was required due to severe fatigue, subsequently diagnosing a very rare form of stomach cancer, at the time diagnosed as palliative with 6 to 9 months life expectancy.
Come February 2023 and having responded to chemotherapy, and then a complete Gastrectomy, the idea of doing something to recognise and progress with what would have been a great event for charity (the channel swim), the idea was proposed to try and achieve at least the 22 miles (English Channel narrowest point) but in a more manageable way.
The Challenge
The challenge is to swim at least the distance of the English Channel which is roughly 22 miles. This equates to 1408 lengths of the pool or 235 lengths per lane of the pool. The target is a total of all lengths swam, and NOT an individual target.
A huge thanks to David Scott for organising this incredible challenge, The Rotary Club of Consett for funding the complete hire of the pool and facilities and to all of the people taking part this Sunday.
If you would like to support this swimming event with a donation, please visit: https://www.justgiving.com/page/channelchallenge...
Visit Willow Burn Hospice Charity Shop Consett to check out the swimming window that the staff and volunteers have put together
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