SEnine
France the hard way.
A group of Eltham girls will be heading for France this month, the hard way. George Evans met the quintet who have been training for months in the Eltham Centre
month, fi ve young girls from Eltham Training and Swimming Club, aged between 12 and 14, will attempt to swim the English Channel in a relay to raise money for various charities of their choice.
Weather
By doing so, they will be following the fl ippers of many before them from this illustrious club.
Former member Thomas Gregory crossed the channel in 1988 becoming the youngest person ever to swim the channel solo putting Eltham fi rmly on the swimming map! To this day he remains the youngest ever person, at 11 years and 11 months, to swim the 22 miles, an age limit now having been imposed.
The youngest swimmer on this trip is Ella Morrit, 12 years old, who attends local school Harris Academy; she is swimming for Great Ormond Street and Cancer Research. Sisters Emma and Chloe Ward attend Chislehurst and Sidcup School. Emma’s chosen charity is the British Heart Foundation and Chloe is swimming for Cancer Research UK. Jessica Limpkin, 13, from Beaverwood school, has also chosen Cancer Research UK whilst the fi nal member of the team, Hayley Ashenden, is aiming to raise funds for Help for heroes.
permitting, early this
The trip is costing the girls and their parents a large amount of money; the largest single expense being the £2,400 hire of a safety boat for the trip.
YOUNG ELTHAM
swim and raise the much needed funds for charity.
During the swim, the girls are going to be up against icy cold water and jelly fi sh. Although they can’t kill they “will give you a nasty sting that is more painful then a bee” says, club president Tim Strange who is delighted at the task the girls are about to undertake.
The girls have been helped by coaches Kim Morritt and Julie Unitt who have been taking them down to Dover every Saturday in preparation for the swim,
Provisions come to around £600 including everything from food and water to safety equipment and fi rst aid. The girls have been training for six months to get fi t and ready for the swim and the continuous journeys to and from both the Eltham Centre and Dover, along with the added cost of pool access and swimming equipment comes to around about £1,000.
This means that the fi nal expenditure for the swim is approximately £4,000 but the girls believe that this will be worth it due to the great feeling they hope to get if they manage to complete the
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and Club Chairman Mike Cross who has given the girls his support form the start.
Unfortunately the girls are going to have to beat the weather before they can make the journey! If the sea is not completely fl at then they will not be allowed to attempt the crossing for safety reasons.
I hope you will be rooting for the ‘Eltham Mermaids’ as much as I will when they embark on their 15 to 20 hour challenge. Look out for the result of their swim in the next edition of SE9.
29
George Evans
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