Both of my children will be attempting to cross the English Channel as part of the Beech Hall School Mencap Marvels Channel Relay team.

During the last week of August, as part of a team of 6, they will take turns to swim an hour at a time from Samphire Hoe to the coast of France. They'll face whatever the Channel can throw at them, in the daylight, night or both, depending on the tides.

The kids have been training many times a week since last September to improve their swimming technique, fitness and speed. They also spent much of the winter working on their cold acclimatisation with ice swims, and longer cold outdoor swims.

They’ve spent the summer increasing their training to six times a week of pool and open water swimming to give them the best chance of a successful Channel crossing.

I’ve also found myself roped into a senior boat of three or four.

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