English Channel Swim
Friends and colleagues, Andrew Curran (32), Chris Williamson (32) and brothers Jerome (32) and Jeremie (23) Vittoz, successfully swam the English Channel this week in a challenge of a lifetime to raise money for Mercy Ships to help provide free medical care to the world’s poorest people.
Originally from London, organiser Andrew now lives in Stockholm and works for Lindt Chocolate and along with his friend Chris, who is originally from Derby but now lives in Geneva, they teamed up with Andrew’s work colleague at Lindt Jerome Vittoz and his younger brother, Jeremie, to swim the channel – a feat that fewer people have achieved than have climbed Mount Everest.
Swimming as a relay and rotating an hour on and an hour off to cover the whole distance of about 32 kilometres, keen adventures Andrew, Chris, Jeremie and Jerome expected the swim to take between 14 and 15 hours. In the end, they did it in 13 hours 47 mins.
Andrew said: “We all like to take part in big challenges and this certainly was a big challenge. We were nervous to say the least but extremely excited about the accomplishment. The real reason we did this challenge however is not for the acclaim but to support Mercy Ships. Learning about the charity and the selfless volunteers has inspired me, there are very few charities that you see make such a tangible difference to people’s lives.
“None of us are big swimmers and we all had to put some serious training in to prepare for this. There are also very strict regulations from the Channel Swimming Association that we had to follow including only being allowed to wear Speedos and goose fat and at no point whilst swimming could one of us touch the boat”.
They reached Calais at just after 10pm after swimming across the busiest shipping lane in the world, having dodged many a jelly fish and experienced freezing temperatures.
Judy Polkinhorn, Executive Director for Mercy Ships UK said: “This was a very big and admirable challenge to undertake and we are extremely excited and thankful to Andrew, Chris, Jerome and Jeremie. We are extremely humbled and thankful to anyone that is willing to go out of their way to help raise funds and awareness of Mercy Ships.
“Without kind donations and fundraising activities to support the work we do Mercy Ships would simply cease to exist and the vital life saving surgeries that are so desperately needed could not happen without our supporters. We would like to say a huge thank you to Andrew, Chris, Jerome and Jeremie for not only fundraising on our behalf but recognising the work we do.”
If you'd like to make a donation to support Andrew, Chris, Jerome and Jeremie, check out their justgiving page www.justgiving.com/Bunch-of-Swissies