A team of 6 open water swimmers featuring Keswick Athletic members; Dave Kearns, Emily Christmas, Jill Blayney, David Farriar along with Deb Biddle and Alex Nancollis have swum the 21 miles across the English Channel. The group regularly swam together in Derwentwater and St Bees and took on this challenge in aid of the Great North Air Ambulance. The challenge took the team around 16 and a half hours and they have raised more than £5,000.

Emily said: “We are so excited to have completed the challenge. It was a real team event with every swimmer giving it their all in some very difficult waters. We had tide changes, jelly fish, boats, a very early start and tiredness and sea sickness to add to the challenge. We had an amazing crew who guided us through to France and it felt so amazing to have reached the end. We want to thank everyone who donated to our charity and followed us through social media and tracking. We are overwhelmed by the amount of people who were following our journey. We had followers from as far as Argentina, Australia and all over the UK following our challenge. Also a massive thank you to our friend Rachel Kearns who was our on boat support as well as our family and friends on the shore. Thank you also to our local athletic club in Keswick who donated £50/member to the GNAA”

Alex said: “It was an amazing experience where we all pulled together to complete.”

To sponsor the team visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/cumbrianchannelcrossers