Story
Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.
Hi, I'm Rick!
My personal goal this October is to swim Alcatraz to raise money for my chosen charity RNLI. As an RNLI crew member at Blackpool and also manager for Blackpool Beach Patrol, I'm passionate about sea safety and really hope you will help me raise money for this very worthy cause.
I'm an ex international freestyle swimmer attempting to replicate the escape attempt made by the only two inmates recorded to have escaped from Alcatraz by swimming.
Swimming has always been a big part of my life competing from an early age and more recently wild open water swimming. My wild swims include the Great North swim in Lake Windermere and I've also swam across the Corryvrechan several times. My last swim breaking a world record for swimming across the world's third largest whirlpool three ways on 2 July 2013. Story about my Corryvrechan success. Alcatraz will be my biggest challenge yet and I'm putting in all my efforts, training hard for this iconic swim. I'm taking with me a couple of other swimmers, Phil Schofield and Ben Woodhouse, who are also going to join me in my challenge. We'll be joined by Nigel Toolan who will act as safety officer, coach and chief shark spotter!
Not only am I donating my time and effort, I'm also personally funding this trip. Therefore every penny raised will go direct to my chosen charity, RNLI.
JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving (they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails). Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.
I'd really appreciate it if you could help me keep up the professional tireless work that the RNLI and all of its volunteers strive to do.
Many thanks for taking the time to read this - please keep an eye on this webpage as I'll be updating it with blogs, photos and video updates with my training progress until my official 'escape' day on 10 October!