Funeral professional swims English Channel for charity
On July 2 2017 after many months of cold water training in Dover Harbour, Nichola Murch of T. Cribb and Sons completed a solo swim across the English Channel in 13 hours, 13 minutes, to raise money for charity.
“I have always loved swimming, maybe not so keen on competitions but loved training,” said Nichola.
“After swimming Lake Windermere a few years ago, I had been curious to see how far I could swim without a wetsuit. An opportunity to swim the Channel came up and with the support of my family and T. Cribb & Sons I was able to put things in motion.
“After weekends of swimming round in circles in Dover Harbour trying to get my body to acclimatise to the cold, my day of swimming the Channel came.
“My husband and best friend supported me from the boat. They fed me marshmallows, energy drinks and much needed support messages. For the first part of my swim I was
sea sick…I did think maybe I should have just taken the ferry! But after the first five hours I started to feel better (might have been due to the top up of anti-sea sickness tablets and a cup of tea).
“I can honestly say I did enjoy the middle part of the swim, but towards the end…when I could see France…but it wasn’t getting any closer I was starting to think I would never get there.
“I missed the cap, which is the point that all swimmers aim for (shortest distance…who wouldn’t?!), so in my head I had another five hours of swimming (tides and wind play a large part in Channel swimming). So when my husband said only an hour left, I didn’t believe him (that’s trust for you).
“Finally after over 13 hours of swimming I reached France. Unfortunately the glass of Champagne that I had dreamt of was still back in the restaurant at the cap, so I settled for warm Prosecco on the boat. After months of training my swim was complete which lead me to feeling a bit blue so I decided a quick Jersey to France swim might help…it did. I completed the swim in six hours 23 minutes breaking the fastest female record, a nice end to the season.”
Nichola raised £1335.00 for Mitchell’s Miracles a charity for children with neuroblastoma and Newham Riding School for the Disabled, two charities supported by T.Cribb & Sons. She thanked T. Cribb & Sons for sponsoring the boat which accompanied her and enabled her to raise this money.
