On the 1st of September 2013, I became an official English Channel swimmer, completing my swim in a time of 14hrs 52mins! For more information about this challenge and to relive the journey up to the swim itself, please visit the TeamBrophy website.
Crossing the English Channel is considered one of the toughest challenges in the world. In 2005, only around 79 people crossed the channel, whilst in 2004, approximately 330 people climbed to the summit of Mount Everest! The swim is around 22 miles across the Strait of Dover (between Dover and Calais), in water temperatures of 15 to 18 degrees Celsius.
Despite this, I was only allowed to wear one hat, a costume (no wet-suits!), goggles and earplugs, and I was not allowed help or any contact with anyone or the boat. On average a crossing takes 13 hours 23 minutes, with the longest being around 28 hours 44 minutes. At the time there were only around 1179 people who have completed a successful crossing to date. With a 1 in 6 success rate, since Captain Webb completed the first ever crossing back in 1875, taking 21 hours. The channel is also one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, with over 600 ships per day. This is not the only hazard however. I had to watch out for hypothermia from the cold water temperatures, debris and even jelly fish.
Formally Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research now Bloodwise, is the only UK charity solely dedicated to research into blood cancers. Their life-saving research is focused on finding causes, improving diagnosis and treatments, and running ground breaking clinical trials for all blood cancer patients.
The charity was chosen by the team in memory of my father, Lee Brophy who sadly passed away from a form of blood cancer when I was growing up as a kid. We all believe that the charity do a fantastic job. We hope that with your help, we can raise enough awareness and money to really make a difference. £4,210 raised and up to 98 donations, myself and the team of volunteers believe it is a job well done and look forward to the future with any possible charitable opportunities.