So by some miracle we will be leaving for Dover at 11.45 to begin our swim!
Poppy has now arrived with us, bacon sandwiches have been made and we have finalised all the packing. If you would like to picture our current scene, we are sitting around the dining table with tea and biscuits and pondering when we need to put on our first swimming costumes!
The swim will actually begin between 12.30 and 1.30 am, and the order of swim should you want to know will be:
1. Alice
2. Amy
3. Poppy
4. Izzy
5. Josie
We are all very excited but nerves are definitely kicking in. This isn't meant to sound like a disclaimer, but the swimming the Channel is no easy task, and while we have heard a multitude of different success rate figures it is by no means certain that we will complete the challenge ahead of us. However, after the week we have had, the effort we have put in over the year and the amount of encouragement and support we have recieved from everyone, we are determined to give it our very best shot. Team Challenge 5:21 are truly ready to go!
We are also determined to put on a good show for the excellent causes we are supporting, Cancer Research UK and the Mark Evison Foundation.
If you would like to sponsor us you can at http://www.justgiving.com/Challenge-521
We probably won't be in contact again with people until after the swim - we will try and update twitter occasionally but don't think that there will be much internet available mid Channel! - so until further news is available bon voyage!
About Me
- Challenge 5:21
- 5 people : 21 miles We are 5 girls from Reading who are swimming the English Channel in the summer of August 2012 to raise money and awareness for Cancer Research UK. Follow on here our progress in training and organizing our challenge!
Friday 31 August 2012
Preparation
So far the weather has done as its told and we are still due to begin our swim between 12.30 and 1.30 am Saturday morning.
Having all now returned to Kent, bar Poppy who is due to arrive at around 10.20 pm, we have spent the day packing our kit and buying in supplies for the trip.
Packing is now complete with kit bags full of costumes, goggles, swimming hats, vaseline, suncream and the like!
Pasta is currently being cooked to take onboard tomorrow and we have the most enormous supply of biscuits, rolls, sweets, jelly anbd fruit to take. We certainly won't be going hungry!
A few anonymous items have also made it into our bags including parts of a Captain Hook outfit, facepaint and large inflatable Union Jack hands just to cheer us up in those moments when we may get a bit down!
We are all a mixture of nerves and excitment at present and most of relief as it looks like we will get to attempt the swim altogether, something which none of us would have dreamed possible earlier in the week!
We will be in touch before we go....
Having all now returned to Kent, bar Poppy who is due to arrive at around 10.20 pm, we have spent the day packing our kit and buying in supplies for the trip.
Packing is now complete with kit bags full of costumes, goggles, swimming hats, vaseline, suncream and the like!
Pasta is currently being cooked to take onboard tomorrow and we have the most enormous supply of biscuits, rolls, sweets, jelly anbd fruit to take. We certainly won't be going hungry!
A few anonymous items have also made it into our bags including parts of a Captain Hook outfit, facepaint and large inflatable Union Jack hands just to cheer us up in those moments when we may get a bit down!
We are all a mixture of nerves and excitment at present and most of relief as it looks like we will get to attempt the swim altogether, something which none of us would have dreamed possible earlier in the week!
We will be in touch before we go....
Thursday 30 August 2012
Guess who's back????????
POPPY!!!!!
That's right, owing to the fact that the swim has been delayed this long Poppy is able to rejoin us!
As you can tell we are all so happy about this, the five of us will be back together gain for the swim!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bring on the swim!
A Glimmer of Hope!
A more positive update this afternoon for you all!
Our pilot Stuart has been in touch to say that we should be able to swim in the early hours of Saturday morning, and we mean early at 12.30 am! Obviously this is very exciting news for us all and we are heading back to Kent tomorrow morning to sort everything out and get a few hours sleep before we attempt the swim. The change in the weather really has been the most incredible stroke of luck, and fingers crossed it does what the weather charts say it is going to do. At present therefore we are very pleased to inform everyone that the 4 of us should be swimming on Saturday 1st September!
Amy and Josie went for a quick training session in a pool this morning to keep themselves ticking over, and Alice, who remained in Kent, went swimming in the sea again on Tuesday evening labelling it a very pleasant experience with 'positively balmy' water! Amy and Josie compensated for swimming in what seemed like a try warm pool by showering in the cold shower afterwards!
Today all of us will be repacking our stuff and alternating eating lots of carbohydrates and sleeping!
Thank you to everyone for all your support over the last few days when we have all been feeling a bit low and frustrated with the situation, all the positive words and support we have received has made a difference.
We will keep you updated on any changes and post on here when we are actually leaving for the swim - until then it is fingers crossed all round!
Our pilot Stuart has been in touch to say that we should be able to swim in the early hours of Saturday morning, and we mean early at 12.30 am! Obviously this is very exciting news for us all and we are heading back to Kent tomorrow morning to sort everything out and get a few hours sleep before we attempt the swim. The change in the weather really has been the most incredible stroke of luck, and fingers crossed it does what the weather charts say it is going to do. At present therefore we are very pleased to inform everyone that the 4 of us should be swimming on Saturday 1st September!
Amy and Josie went for a quick training session in a pool this morning to keep themselves ticking over, and Alice, who remained in Kent, went swimming in the sea again on Tuesday evening labelling it a very pleasant experience with 'positively balmy' water! Amy and Josie compensated for swimming in what seemed like a try warm pool by showering in the cold shower afterwards!
Today all of us will be repacking our stuff and alternating eating lots of carbohydrates and sleeping!
Thank you to everyone for all your support over the last few days when we have all been feeling a bit low and frustrated with the situation, all the positive words and support we have received has made a difference.
We will keep you updated on any changes and post on here when we are actually leaving for the swim - until then it is fingers crossed all round!
Tuesday 28 August 2012
A waiting game...
So we have all (apart from Alice) returned to Reading for a couple of days to wait for further news about when we can swim.
Fingers crossed that we swim on either Friday or Saturday.
Thank you for all the kind messages of support in the last 24 hours! We will be trying everything possible to enable us to swim at the weekend.
Fingers crossed that we swim on either Friday or Saturday.
Thank you for all the kind messages of support in the last 24 hours! We will be trying everything possible to enable us to swim at the weekend.
Monday 27 August 2012
Another Challenging Evening
Well we didn't call our adventure Challenge 5:21 for nothing!
This evening our pilot Stuart called to say that the weather will prohibit us from swimming the channel until at the very least Friday, if not Saturday/Sunday. This is obviously very frustrating and upsetting but totally out of everyone's control.
This news does unfortunately pose several issues in terms of people being able to do the swim. Moving in dates/ job start dates/ holidays are all creeping towards us all and so the timing of the swim is in the balance at the moment.
Fortunately we do still have several options available to us, although they are getting fewer and fewer and the time is getting tighter and tighter....
We are all still hoping that at least some of us will be able to attempt the swim, although it will be even tougher with fewer swimmers as they will be more swims and less of a break between each of them.
We are all keeping our fingers crossed and want everyone to know that we are doing everything in our power to be enable us to swim, unfortunately at the moment it is just all out of our control.
We are all heading back to Reading for a couple of days so as to have some space and relax from the stressful events of the last couple of days.
As ever we will keep you posted on news, and fingers crossed next time it will be more positive and with more definitive answers.
This evening our pilot Stuart called to say that the weather will prohibit us from swimming the channel until at the very least Friday, if not Saturday/Sunday. This is obviously very frustrating and upsetting but totally out of everyone's control.
This news does unfortunately pose several issues in terms of people being able to do the swim. Moving in dates/ job start dates/ holidays are all creeping towards us all and so the timing of the swim is in the balance at the moment.
Fortunately we do still have several options available to us, although they are getting fewer and fewer and the time is getting tighter and tighter....
We are all still hoping that at least some of us will be able to attempt the swim, although it will be even tougher with fewer swimmers as they will be more swims and less of a break between each of them.
We are all keeping our fingers crossed and want everyone to know that we are doing everything in our power to be enable us to swim, unfortunately at the moment it is just all out of our control.
We are all heading back to Reading for a couple of days so as to have some space and relax from the stressful events of the last couple of days.
As ever we will keep you posted on news, and fingers crossed next time it will be more positive and with more definitive answers.
Sunday 26 August 2012
A great loss
Some very sad news this evening from us all in that we have to announce that Poppy is unable to swim with us in our Channel Swim attempt due to personal circumstances. She will be greatly missed by all of the rest of us and it is very disappointing for her not to be able to swim. A great thanks must be given to Poppy to all her hard work towards the swim, in her fundraising, organisation and training capacities. Her optimistic attitude and endless encouragement will be missed by all the rest of us both while we wait to swim and during the swim itself. A thanks must also be given to Poppy for the goodies she left behind for the rest of us to use including Lucozade and Vaseline! Thank you for everything Poppy and we love you!
In other news today despite the glorious sunshine it was still too windy to swim. We therefore headed down to Dover harbour again and trained for 1.5 hours in much nicer swimming conditions than yesterday! As well as witnessing a ferry turn 180 degrees while swimming in the harbour, we also encountered seal trainee sailors and windsurfers who were only too happy to chat to us when we popped our heads up to make sure that they weren't going to ride over us!
Vaseline has begun to be used and will be for the foreseeable future due to various necks and underarms is occurring - who said that this wouldn't be glamorous!? Furthermore sweets and/ or biscuits are also now a necessity for immediately after training!
After another run to the supermarket and some lunch we have all settled down again for the afternoon and evening feeling excited about the swim and sad about Poppy's departure. It's mixed emotions this evening for us but if we manage to complete the swim it will all be worthwhile.
Until next time...
In other news today despite the glorious sunshine it was still too windy to swim. We therefore headed down to Dover harbour again and trained for 1.5 hours in much nicer swimming conditions than yesterday! As well as witnessing a ferry turn 180 degrees while swimming in the harbour, we also encountered seal trainee sailors and windsurfers who were only too happy to chat to us when we popped our heads up to make sure that they weren't going to ride over us!
Vaseline has begun to be used and will be for the foreseeable future due to various necks and underarms is occurring - who said that this wouldn't be glamorous!? Furthermore sweets and/ or biscuits are also now a necessity for immediately after training!
After another run to the supermarket and some lunch we have all settled down again for the afternoon and evening feeling excited about the swim and sad about Poppy's departure. It's mixed emotions this evening for us but if we manage to complete the swim it will all be worthwhile.
Until next time...
Saturday 25 August 2012
Training in Dover Harbour
After a good night sleep we headed down to Dover Harbour for a training session.
Clearly many British people were fleeing the dreadful weather, which has prohibited us from swimming today, and the queues into Dover and the ferry port were a couple of miles long unfortunately. However we didn't let that or the weather dampen our spirits and arrived at the coast to see around 30 other people already in the water.
Apparently it was a quiet day as it was still fairly choppy in the harbour, but we were still shocked by how many people were there.
After some helpful hints from experienced trainers and pilots we walked into the sea, trying to look brave in the cold in and wind and yet still squeaking a fair amount! We all successfully managed to stay in for an hour ploughing up and down the harbour, and were pleased with our group training session.
The waves were the biggest shock to our system, particularly when we have done a lot of our training in a lake. For the most part though we were able to not swallow too much water and stay in a vaguely straight line. Visibility wasn't great as was expected, so even if there are jellyfish looming we will be unable to see them, which weirdly made certain members of the group feel better. The cold, providing you kept moving, was also surprisingly bearable, although admittedly we were less than 300 metres from the beach at all times.
All in all though, having now had showers, lunch, tea and biscuits, it has helped to calm many nerves about cold, stamina and jellyfish. Again we are all currently feeling enthusiastic about the swim and hope that we will be off in the next few days.
As ever we will keep you posted.
Clearly many British people were fleeing the dreadful weather, which has prohibited us from swimming today, and the queues into Dover and the ferry port were a couple of miles long unfortunately. However we didn't let that or the weather dampen our spirits and arrived at the coast to see around 30 other people already in the water.
Apparently it was a quiet day as it was still fairly choppy in the harbour, but we were still shocked by how many people were there.
After some helpful hints from experienced trainers and pilots we walked into the sea, trying to look brave in the cold in and wind and yet still squeaking a fair amount! We all successfully managed to stay in for an hour ploughing up and down the harbour, and were pleased with our group training session.
The waves were the biggest shock to our system, particularly when we have done a lot of our training in a lake. For the most part though we were able to not swallow too much water and stay in a vaguely straight line. Visibility wasn't great as was expected, so even if there are jellyfish looming we will be unable to see them, which weirdly made certain members of the group feel better. The cold, providing you kept moving, was also surprisingly bearable, although admittedly we were less than 300 metres from the beach at all times.
All in all though, having now had showers, lunch, tea and biscuits, it has helped to calm many nerves about cold, stamina and jellyfish. Again we are all currently feeling enthusiastic about the swim and hope that we will be off in the next few days.
As ever we will keep you posted.
Friday 24 August 2012
Arrival in Kent
After meeting up together and cramming everything into a Ford KA and Peugeot 206 all 5 of us headed down to Kent and away from Reading and all the festivallers. Despite heavy traffic we made it to our destination (just outside Folkstone) in 2.5 hours which included a McDonald's lunch break. If ever we needed to pile on the pounds its would be now!
On arrival we unpacked and then headed down to Dover to meet with our pilot Stuart. After being presented with a cup of tea onboard Sea Leapoard we chatted about the swim and had many of our questions answered. Apparently it is pretty unlikely we will see jellyfish, are mostly likely to be swimming in darkness at some point, and we may encounter some seals! It is unlikely that we will swim over the weekend due to the weather but fingers crossed it will happen early next week!
Back at where we are staying, and after a Tesco trip, we whipped up spaghetti bolognese and then settled down to begin our Midsomer Murder marathon that is going to get us through the next few days!
Training in Dover Harbour in the morning, time to get seriously acclimatised!
Expect plenty of updates over the next few days...
On arrival we unpacked and then headed down to Dover to meet with our pilot Stuart. After being presented with a cup of tea onboard Sea Leapoard we chatted about the swim and had many of our questions answered. Apparently it is pretty unlikely we will see jellyfish, are mostly likely to be swimming in darkness at some point, and we may encounter some seals! It is unlikely that we will swim over the weekend due to the weather but fingers crossed it will happen early next week!
Back at where we are staying, and after a Tesco trip, we whipped up spaghetti bolognese and then settled down to begin our Midsomer Murder marathon that is going to get us through the next few days!
Training in Dover Harbour in the morning, time to get seriously acclimatised!
Expect plenty of updates over the next few days...
Packing!
The day has finally come, we are leaving for Kent in a couple of hours!
Training has been in full swing in recent weeks, albeit on an individual basis as everyone has been away in recent weeks either with university, holidays, Olympic volunteering! Training in various pools/ lakes/ and seas has occurred for all of us, and wetsuits have now well and truly become a thing of the past. However, half of the team were able to meet up for a final training session last night at the lake while Josie crossed the channel via ferry - she spotted no other swimmers while onboard and no sharks either for that matter!
After a flurry of phone calls to each other last night all of us are now packed and have planned a meeting place which hopefully will avoid all the reading Festival traffic!
No idea when we are swimming, its weather and tide dependent, so there may be plenty of updates the next few days as we do some last minute acclimatisation/ training in the Channel itself.
Lets hope we can seize the Olympic spirit and do ourselves proud in the next week...
Training has been in full swing in recent weeks, albeit on an individual basis as everyone has been away in recent weeks either with university, holidays, Olympic volunteering! Training in various pools/ lakes/ and seas has occurred for all of us, and wetsuits have now well and truly become a thing of the past. However, half of the team were able to meet up for a final training session last night at the lake while Josie crossed the channel via ferry - she spotted no other swimmers while onboard and no sharks either for that matter!
After a flurry of phone calls to each other last night all of us are now packed and have planned a meeting place which hopefully will avoid all the reading Festival traffic!
No idea when we are swimming, its weather and tide dependent, so there may be plenty of updates the next few days as we do some last minute acclimatisation/ training in the Channel itself.
Lets hope we can seize the Olympic spirit and do ourselves proud in the next week...
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