On Sunday the 16th of August our team of intrepid staff and PhD students from the School of Geography and Geoscience at the University of St Andrews are going to swim the English Channel! ...in St Leonards Swimming Pool!

Undertaking 1416 lengths between us, we'll make the crossing between Dover and Calais using all the swimming strokes known to man! Even doggy paddle you say? Yep!

The team is composed of Cathy Cole, Rosie Cole, Louis and Ella Allison Finch (Nicky and Adrian's children), Heidi Burdett, Jennifer Hoolachan, Tammy Green, Paula Duffy, Bożena Wielgoszewska, Gordon Gibb (rogue mathematician alert) and myself, Kirsten Jenkins, who will serve as the team leader.

We're doing it not only for madnesses sake, but to raise money for an excellent cause, the Inverness-shire and Western Isles branch of SSAFA. SSAFA - the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association - provides assistance and support for men and women, their families and dependants who either currently serve or have served in the Armed Forces. The Inverness-shire branch's work is made more challenging by the distances involved, with many people geographically isolated from SSAFA's valuable work. 

The money raised by this swim, therefore, will prove on two levels, that distance is no boundary!